


jinchuriki family: Shippuden

by Festivewillow69



Series: Jinchūriki Family [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Action/Adventure, Angst, Character Death, Eventual Romance, Humor, Multi, Polyamory, no graphic romance, some plot following
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-12
Updated: 2020-07-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:13:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 14
Words: 48,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23602882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Festivewillow69/pseuds/Festivewillow69
Summary: AU fic. 2.5 years have passed for Naruto and his new family and tag along friends, but now they must work together for the upcoming danger hunting them
Series: Jinchūriki Family [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1681180
Kudos: 6





	1. Chapter 1

A/N: Did you know that 186 episodes of Naruto is filler? That's certainly quite a lot of filler. Well, it's not like I'll be using all the episodes of canon either. Just the ones that are relevant to this story. Also, everybody here looks like what they were in Part II, just for sake of convinience. I'd also like to apologize that since I'm using a laptop, I don't know how to put those little lines above o's and u's.  
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It's been 2.5 years since Naruto has been kicked out of Konoha, and at first it looked like it was the end of Naruto Uzumaki from back then. But as it would turn out, with the help of Kurama, Naruto would get a family that were just like him; jinchurikis. First he found Gaara, whom was able to control sand, and housed the tailed beast, Shukaku. Following that were Gaara's siblings; Kankuro the puppetier, and Temari who specializes in wind type jutsu. Other jinchuriki that were recruited were Roshi and Han Zenpoe, ninja from the land of earth who have Son Goku and Kokuo respectively, Fu Dainana from the waterfall village who had Chomei, Yugito Nii from the land of lightning, and Utakata from the land of water, housing Saiken, with his normal accomplise, Hotaru. Sadly, there were a couple of jinchuriki that they couldn't bring along. Killer B from the same land as Yugito Nii, who was sworn into protecting his hidden village for all time, and the Forth Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi, whom had too bad of a reputation to be personally associated with them. But even with that, he still managed to unite all of the tailed beasts, and even managed to form his own unofficial hidden village where his clan formerly lived before they were destroyed, naming the area Kemonogakure, with Yugito elected as its Dokage. Now, with the years passing, he's ready for a surprise he's been training for.  
It was becoming sunset, and the entire gang was enjoying some cooked dinner over the outdoor firepits, cooking various dinners for some of those who didn't want the same dinner. In one group was Gaara, Kankuro, Temari, Fu and Naruto preparing to eat some ramen, while the other consisted of Yugito, Roshi, Han, Utakata, Hotaru and Jiraiya preparing to eat chunks of meat from both the wilderness and from the mainland stores. Temari, Kankuro, Utakata and Hotaru were always the ones to get supplies when they needed them, seeing that three normal ninja and one Jinchuriki were enough. Over the past 2.5 years they've also trained under Jiraiya-sensei as even though some of them were jonin level in skill and power, learning from a sannin never hurt. While their own special skills got better by only their own training, their bodies and overall ninja skills have increased to incredible heights they never would've done on their own.

"Wow, this is delicious ramen, Temari! I'd say you've mastered the art almost to the same expertise as Icharaku's!" Naruto complimented. Temari smiled to her little brother.

"Why thank you. That's real kind of you to say."

Yeah! This is some of the best cooking I've eaten living here. You sure are becoming a master of the culinary arts." Fu added gleefully. Temari's smile grew bigger looking at whom she considered a fellow sister.

"Yes. Quite delectable."Gaara simply said in congrats.

Over by the grown up fire, they were talking about something that they've been talking about for a small while.  
"How much longer will it be Jiraiya? You said 2.5 years ago that the Akatsuki and Orochimaru could attack. That's almost any day now. This may be a secluded island but that means that we won't have any reinforcements to back us up if we're ambushed. "Yugito the Dokage questioned. Jiraiya wasn't breaking a sweat over it.

"Hey, don't sweat about it. With the time we had, not being distracted by anything, the younglings should be as strong and capable as your typical jonin, if not have mastered chunin capabilities, and us adults are now skilled enough to give a Kage a run for their money individually. Not to mention there's 11 of us here now. If they want to ambush us, they'd have to bring their whole ranks to the place. Sure, there's a chance they'll find us eventually, but that's what we've been preparing for the past 2.5 years now. Don't worry too much."

"But we don't know anything about these Akatsuki aside from the fact they're all S-rank jonin. And one of them is an Uchiha." Hotaru pointed out.

"That's why a friend of mine has been teaching me how to deal with that, teaching it to you all to face that threat. Everything is going to go fine." Jiraiya reassured.

"You had better be sure Jiraiya. I don't want to think about what will happen if even one of us is killed." Yugito said worried.

"If necessary, us adults will lay down our lives so that the teenagers will escape. We can't let them disrupt the potential of this generation." Han spoke, tilting his head down so that they didn't read his expression.

"Right." Utakata agreed before turning to his closest ally. "Hotaru, should the circumstance come, you need to retreat with the others. You wouldn't be able to hold against them." This shocked the kunoichi.

"What?! No Utakata-sensei! You are my master! I just can't leave you!"

"You've come far, but you're on par with the teenagers at best without the use of their tailed beasts. I don't want you needlessly sacrificing yourself when there's four jinchuriki and a sannin willing to lay down their lives for them. You need to be there for them. As your master, I order you to follow my instructions. Am I clear, Hotaru?" Utakata sternly ordered. Hotaru started to cry. Even though he has accepted her as his pupil, he still rarely executed his authority as a master. Utakata only did so when a situation called for it, and now was one of those times for him. Not knowing what to decide, she ran away with tears streaming down her face into the custom made Kage estate they made for everybody here. Everybody from the teens firepit looked to see her run off to the estate, wondering what happened.

"I'll bring her dinner." Yugito sighed as she gathered some food and followed Hotaru.  
"Real smooth, Utakata." Jiraiya called out.

"I wonder if Utakata said something mean again." Fu asked.

"Likely. She pretty much only cries because of him." Naruto reasoned.

"Fu, why don't you follow me? Might be time for one of our girl chats." Temari suggested as she set her dinner bowl down.

"Sure, no problem." The young kunoichi said as she grew two insectoid wings. She looked back to Naruto and Gaara. "Don't you two go anywhere. This won't take long." She winked almost seductively at them before flying off passing by Temari as she got up and left. Looking at Gaara before shrugging, he got up and walked to the adults.

"Hey, what happened here? What made her cry this time?"

"Oh, don't worry about it, Naruto. Just Utakata being an idiot again." Jiraiya brushed off. Utakata looked at him insulted. "Just go and train some more or go to bed or what. Us adults were talking about stuff you don't need to hear yet." Naruto looked at Jiraiya suspiciously, whom returned the look right back. After about a minute of staring off, he looked off elsewhere.

"Whatever. I'm sure Yugito or Hotaru could tell me when things calm down." He called over to the other guys. " Hey Gaara, Kankuro! Let's go do something!" He charged off, leaving the two to follow him with barely any expression or interest, since they had nothing better to do after eating their dinner.

"You can't keep this up forever. The day will come when we're attacked, and treating it like it's no big deal will not make things easier." Roshi said.

"Yeah, and not to mention that no master wants their pupil to die. Even though you trained all of us, Naruto is truly your student, so I'd imagine you absolutely don't want him captured or killed, along with the rest of us." Utakata argued.

"Let the kids have their fun." Jiraiya defended. "Training morale will go down if we're all brooding about when we'll get ambushed. It's more important to take the value of each day then spend every moment worrying. Naruto knows he's going to fight the Akatsuki at some point, but he still enjoys himself. Could you imagine spending 3 years training dreading for one day? That's no way to live." The sannin sighed as he took one last drink of sake. "Well, I'm going to see what Naruto and those other two are going to be doing." He got up and left, leaving the three contemplative men alone.  
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A/N: So, what do you think of the first chapter? Leave a review. Also, I have a question. Since I don't have the skill to create this huge battle royal where all the jinchuriki fights the Akatsuki all at once, it's just going to be treated as a one on one thing. Except for Hidan and Kakuzu. So, with that stated, which jinchuriki do you want fighting each Akatsuki one on one? Or two on two with Hidan and Kakuzu. Could be canon or a new combo, just whatever you think is most fitting or the coolest in theory. Leave reviews, and be sure to read my other stories and leave reviews on those if you hadn't. Sayonara.


	2. Round 1

It was in the middle of the night, with all of them sleeping peacefully like nothing was wrong. However, from outside of the custom made estate, an explosion woke everybody up and they rushed to where it came from. As they converged to the smoking room, Utakata cried out,

"Hotaru!" He held up his flute and blew out as many bubbles he could and greatly reduced the fire in the room but it was still greatly smoking. Rōshi held his breath and let his arms become Son Gokū's before charging in and flipping the rocks away until he found the greatly injured Hotaru. He cradled her in his arms as they all escaped out of the estate.

"How did this happen?" Yugito questioned as she looked at the smoke rising from the estate.

"That would be me." They all looked to see a man in a black cloak and long blonde hair standing on the roof. "Because to me, art..." He leapt off the building just as it exploded, sending rubble and debris flying everywhere. "...Is an explosion!" Temari used her fan to create a protective gust of wind to blow away all the rocks and fire heading toward them. The rest kept their attention on the man as he landed, letting his comrades come to him.

"No, it can't be." Jiraiya whispered to himself. A slender white hair man appeared with a triple bladed scythe. A woman with wings of paper hovered in. A man with a serious hunch scurried in. A shark man burst from the water and landed near the group. A man with red irises appeared from out of nowhere. A black hole appeared expelling a man in a mask. And finally, a man with orange hair and purple eyes walked past all of them, presenting himself as the leader. The Akatsuki was here.

"Here we are, 7 of the 9 jinchuriki here. It might as well be all of the Akatsuki's birthday." He said with almost a hint of glee. He then looked at Jiraiya. "Ah Jiraiya-sensei. This sure feels nostalgic." Once the two men saw eye to eye, Jiraiya gasped in horror. "It can't be. Those eyes. Is that you... Nagato? What happened to you? I heard you were all killed."

"No, Konan and I survived."

"I see that, and I see that you strayed from the path of goodness. What happened to you?"

"War. Nothing happened except war. Too many people died in this land. All that pain forced me to grow up. Even foolish children will grow up in the face of pain. It made most of us grow up. Everybody grows up in the face of pain."

"But abandoning one's love for his friends and fellow man. Is that what you believe is what it means to become an adult?"

"Oh sensei, you're still merely a mortal. However, I have matured to become much more than a man. I've grown from a man to a god."

"Oh please! Like anyone can just proclaim themselves to be a god! Naruto interrupted in annoyance. "Sure, you have freaky eyes but you still look the same as everybody else here!"

"Like a simple minded teenager such as yourself could understand me. Since I'm a god, all my thoughts and words have become obsolete to mortals. It's not your fault if you don't understand what I'm saying. Things that I couldn't see have become clear to me since I've become a god. And being a god, I can do things that no other person can do on this planet."

"What exactly are you planning to do?"

"My sacred deed... is to end war as a practicable concept."

"If that's your goal, why are you hunting the tailed beasts?"

"I will use the sealed tailed beasts power for a jutsu. A jutsu with such magnitude that just one jutsu so powerful it can destroy a nation. The ultimate forbidden jutsu."

"And how can something like that end war?" Yugito inquired getting quite scared from this supposed sacred deed. "Weapons of that magnitude will simply increase conflict, not erase it all together."

"There's one way to get countries to stop fighting and work together. I'll give each land a superweapon in which they'll inevitably use them on each other. Tens of millions will die instantly. Everybody will know what pain is. It can be said this world is in the process of maturing. I'm using my godly power to make it finally grow up to the point that everybody is too afraid to fight anymore. In order for the world to know true peace all around, it needs help of a god's hand."

"Teach the world pain to make it grow up." Gaara growled in realized irritation.

"Heh, like peace could ever be achieved through fear and pain!" Naruto spoke up once again, now visibly angry. "The only way peace can happen is if everybody wants it that way! Some people are stubborn on grudges but only positivity can make peace happen!"

"So you still want to defy a god. How typical. If you truly want to defend this world, fight us. We'll treat this as one on one chess. Weakest to strongest. Although Hidan and Kakuzu will fight together since their combo is unbeatable. But everybody else? Fair one on one."

"If you want to play things a little fairly, that's just fine. We'll do it." Jiraiya quickly agreed.

"What are you doing?" Yugito inquired, quite stressed.

"Hey, at least it won't be a battle royal where somebody might be hit with something stronger than they're capable of. This way, there's a few casualties as possible on our side if they decide to kill us on the spot instead of just capturing for now." Seeing his logic, Yugito nodded in worry. Jiraiya looked up to the leader of the Akatsuki again. "So, since you're going by weakest to strongest, who are you going with first?"

"Konan, get ready." The leader said. The sole female Akatsuki nodded as she walked to the field that they were now going to battle on."

"I'll handle her." Temari said grimly as she readied her fan.

"No, your jutsu won't work this time. I trained Nagato and Konan when they were kids. Her specialty is creating and manipulating paper. It may not sound that impressive, but her Shikagami Dance technique sure was useful back in the day. I don't want to think how she has perfected it all these years. You'll just blow them around not doing anything even if you cut them and her to shreds. If she's the weakest on one on one and her abilities are paper, we need you Yugito to fight first. You're a fire jutsu specialist so you'll have no trouble burning her to ashes, not to mention you're the best taijutsu fighter besides me."

"Very well then. I shall do my best." Yugito agreed to his logic as she walked to the battle field, discarding her pajama top to reveal a sarashi covering her upper torso and tore off most of the leggings of her pajama bottoms to make them more like shorts.

"Uh, why is she doing that?" Naruto asked quite confused from the strip he just saw.

"She's lowering the chances of her clothes getting snagged or grabbed, either by her paper or Konan herself. It may not seem very practical, but pajamas are just not something to fight in." Temari said herself. Three seconds went by before everybody except for Han, Kankuro and Jiraiya began to frantically strip of their pajama's without going so overboard that they expose something to each other. Han never takes off his armor except for bathing despite it's steam capability, Kankuro's pajama's are very similar to what he regularly wears so it wasn't much of a difference, and Jiraiya didn't because he was the legendary goddamn Jiraiya. However, the Akatsuki were very confused by this.

"Uhh, what are they doing? I don't know if I want to be annoyed that their not taking us seriously, or aroused by what I'm seeing." Hidan asked quite confused on his emotions.

"Well I'm definitely annoyed." Kakuzu replied.

"I overheard them. Pajama's are not the ideal thing to fight in so they're reducing the amount of unnecessary cloth on their bodies to prevent snagging or grabs." Konan explained to them.

"Hmm. Oddly I'm not opposed to it." Hidan said as he threw off his robes, revealing his lean yet tight torso and arms.

"So am I, but for more practical reasons for myself." Kisame agreed yet differentiated as he also discarded his robe to reveal his muscular bluish upper body.

"Imbeciles." Kakuzu remarked. Once everybody that decided to strip was done, the battle was finally ready to commence.

"Begin!" Pain yelled out. Yugito charged, letting her fingernails grow 1 foot long. Paper began peeling from Konan's robe as they folded over with origami until they resembled shuriken and kunai and they were launched at the kunoichi. With expert maneuverability, she was able to slash away at the paper weapons or dodge them like they were nothing. Once she got close enough, she swiped her claws at Konan who leapt back, only for Yugito to stick her nails into the ground and swerve her body with her then extended toenails to slash though Konan, though she didn't fall apart right.

("A paper clone.) It was then she noticed during that split second the clone began to glow. (Explosive tags!") The clone blew up, obscuring everything in that spot. The real Konan hovered high above all of the Akatsuki, slipping away during Pain's godly speech. She descended back to the field and peeled off more paper from her body, creating a large paper chakram. She launched it at the spot where Yugito was, but she was unprepared to hear something.

"Fire Style: Grand Fireball Jutsu!" A massive ball of blue fire erupted from the dust and smoke, burning away the chakram. Konan and the rest dodged the fireball heading toward them, now seeing that Yugito had two fiery blue tails, which were used to shield her from the explosion.

"Paper shower." Konan said as he wings produced a seemingly endless shower of sharp as steel paper. Yugito created some signs as she ran from the impressive onslaught.

"Fire Style, Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!" She then expelled from her mouth a spiraling tornado of three blue fire dragons, both protecting her from the paper shower, but also forcing Konan to fly higher and farther away from the fire. From the center though, Yugito jumped right through the tornado sprouting cat legs, also morphing one of her arms into Matatabi's and straight up punched Konan in the face and upper torso. All of her family down below cheered for her successful hit. Konan growled as she lauched her wings like paper missiles, making Yugito morph her other arm into strong cat arms to catch them and crashed into the ground. She threw the spent paper wings away to look back at Konan, only to see that the whole sky was filled with paper spears, all aimed at her.

"Disappear. Shikigami Dance: Punishment!" She sent all 66,000 paper spears right at the jinchuriki. She spun, letting the blue fire envelop her as the spears plunged into the fire. For a couple of seconds, nobody knew if she was hurt or not, but they got their answer when Matatabi appeared in her full glory, having been allowed to take command physical charge. It roared with the volume of a hundred lions as it prepared a fire attack. Konan created a counter measure by gathering a giant paper spear composed of 200,000 explosive tags. Matatabi launched its Cat Flame Roaring Fire attack while Konan fired her massive spear. When the two collided, an explosion about a kilometer and a half erupted, consuming the whole island, along with setting ablaze every tree in a 15 kilometer radius. Once all the destruction was over and everything seemed calm except for some burning trees in the distance, Gaara broke apart the glass that was the outer shell of his absolute defense sand shield that protected everybody.

"Is everybody okay?" The people inside let out that the only thing wrong was their near burst ear drums. On the other side, Pain and his team stood perfectly unharmed, having been protected by Pain's Almighty Push, preventing anything from damaging them. Pain dropped to his knees, prompting Tobi to ask,

"Pain, is something wrong?"

"I'm fine. I'm just winded is all. I'll be perfect again in a few minutes, as long as something like that doesn't happen again too soon." The leader of the Akatsuki explained.

"That's cool, but where's... Konan?" After looking around, it first appeared that she was nowhere to be seen, but Itachi spotted a strange black patch. "There." He pointed. Tobi ran to the spot and ruffled through the ash to find a severely burnt Konan.

"I think she tried shielding herself from the blast. I'm going to try to wake her up." He laid her down gently like and waited a few seconds... before he started repeatedly slapping her face.

"Hey paper angel lady, wake up! Time to wake up! Rise and shine, Angel! Wake up! Up and at'em! Why! Won't! You! Wake! Up?!" He slapped with every exclamation.

"Tobi, stop slapping her. I'm pretty sure she's comatose or dead at this point." Kakuzu pointed out, irritated that he's showing such disrespect to a highly likely recent corpse. Tobi looked down at the unmoving woman and slapped her one more time.

"That's for not doing dishes after dinner! Ok, I guess she's not waking up." Tobi admitted after one more slap. Everybody looked quite disturbed from his behavior, though it looked like Hidan was struggling to keep his chuckles in.

"Tobi, if you killed her by needlessly slapping her instead of making sure she was alive, I'll kill you after this is over." Pain threatened.

"Hey, even if she were still alive, coma's usually lead to death. If anything I may have gave her mercy by slapping her." Tobi defended while crossing his arms before Deidara slapped him on the back of the head. Tobi ignored him though. "So, who's next above Konan?"

"Deidara. You're up next."

"Oh nice, I'll be able to introduce some art to my victim. Don't mind me." Deidara agreed as he stepped forth. The Akatsuki looked to see that Matatabi was still standing, reverting back to Yugito. As she returned to her family, they cheered for her.

"Wow Yugito, that was awesome!" Fu complimented.

"Yeah, that was quite a show there!" Naruto added.

"You've done well with your fire jutsu, my pupil." Jiraiya praised.

"Thank you, Jiraiya-senei." Yugito thanked a bit tired. They looked to see who was up next. "They've already chosen someone else."

"I'll go. We need to conserve our jinchuriki strength. Shukaku and I will deal with him." Gaara said as he stepped past them. Yugito stepped aside past some of her family to see Utakata caring for Hotaru the best he could. "How is she?"

"Unconscious, lost quite a bit of blood and has a broken arm and leg, but she's stable. She'll make it." He evaluated.

"Good." Yugito sighed as the rest of them watched Gaara and Deidara face off. "I hope nobody on our side dies."


	3. Round 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Explosive Sand

After Yugito beat Konan in their fight, up next was Gaara of the desert, and Deidara, the explosives expert.

"What's your name?" Gaara questioned the Akatsuki.

"I am the great Deidara. I am an artist. And my art is explosions. I appreciate all art, but my favorite is blowing stuff up. There's no better artistic beauty than seeing something disappear in a fiery explosion, whether that's human size or enough C4 to blow up a city." Deidara explained while he was moving his arms in a presenting, artistic fashion.

"I see. In that case, I have a little challenge for you."

"Oh?" The artistic terrorist asked, his interest piquing.

"I'll use my strongest technique in absolute defense, and also make it artistic for you. If you can break through that, than I'll fight you with all that I have." Gaara offered.

"That sounds exciting. You got a deal." Deidara agreed.

"Very well." Gaara said as he put his hands together in a ninja sign. The sand in his gourd started to float out. "Ultimately hard absolute defense: shield of Shukaku." Using all the sand in his gourd and the pulverized ground around him in a five meter diameter, he was able to form what looked like a chubby tanuki wearing a jingasa hat.

"Now this, I like! Despite being a shield, it has such majestic markings on it, the fearsome look on its face. How beautiful it'll look once I destroy it." He stuck his hands into a couple of bags on his hips filled with clay, allowing the mouths on his palms to eat it up. Once they consumed enough clay, he raised them against the shield and his hands regurgitated chakra enhanced clay, forming into amorphous blobby beings. They splattered themselves onto the shield and spread across the whole thing, and then blowing up with the equivalent of 20 tons of TNT. Everybody had to leap back to avoid the rush of heat and going deaf from the shockwave.

"Now how's that?" Deidara asked just to gloat. Once the smoke cleared, the shield was still there, not one evidence of damage aside from slight burn marks. "So it's not just some flimsy sand sculpture. I guess C2 will perhaps do the job." His hands ate up more clay and used his jutsu to transfigure that clay into a giant dragon. Deidara hopped into its head, and weaved hand signs to make the dragon regurgitate a smaller version of itself, flying right at the shield. It exploded with much more power, being equivalent of 300 tons of TNT. And to make sure he got it this time, he made the dragon throw up another dragon missile that exploded on impact with 500 tons of TNT's worth. Deidara grinned, believing that he had got him this time, but frowned to see that the statue was still there, now sitting in quite a deep hole this time. "His shield is strong, I'll give him that. So how about we blow things out of proportion by making it 1000X more powerful!" His dragon took a few seconds to produce a hefty and rounded dragon, before spewing it out at high speeds right where the shield of Shukaku was. Having heard that sentence, everybody booked it as fast as possible, having a 25 second opening to get far away. Once the dragon hit, nearly a full kilometer was wiped out, even though everything nearby was already destroyed. "Hahaha! See how you like that, Gaara of the desert!" As if to answer him, a giant line of sand from the detonation smoke and sliced off one of the dragons wings. "What?!" Further more, a huge sand dragon flew out and collided with the clay dragon. Two sand lines came from its body pinning Deidara to his dragon, immobilizing him. Deidara yelled out in pain as he was pinned. A sand clone of Gaara's head and upper torso formed from the dragon and began talking.

"You shouldn't have kept upping the ante. As you kept increasing your explosive power, you were turning the rock under me into sand from the intense vibrations, and thus gave me more than I had readily available. I'm not even in this dragon, or was in the shield for long. I'm hidden away, waiting for the perfect moment to strike." Deidara widened his eyes as his dragon finally hit the ground, exploding with the power of 10 kilotons. However, from said explosion, Deidara was able to escape on a clay bird, having used his jutsu to blow up the sand lines restraining him and jumped off, flying outside of the closer radius of the blast. Deidara couldn't believe that the ultimate defense thing was just a ruse. Now he may have given his opponent the advantage by making sure nothing more than sand and ash remained close and far. He was surrounded by a sea of sand with no way of telling when or where it'll strike. In a rage, he dug out a huge piece of clay and ate it with his actual mouth, eating it all up.

"All right, fine then! If blowing you up won't work, try this!" He regurgitated a massive amount of clay, nearly making a whole mountain's worth that shapeshifted into himself, standing there with no emotion. "Try to get me now! Art is an explosion!" The huge clay model of himself began expanding and expanding, nearly reaching up to comically balloon proportions before rupturing, but not really exploding like a bomb. Although it appeared nothing happened, birds who were flying by and bugs that managed to survive all the previous explosions started to disintegrate into dust. Luckily for both sides, they were outside of the radius of such a lethal technique. Though to his shock, the sand below him started moving to one location and formed something more massive than the C4 bomb, making Deidara's eyes widen with fear. Standing before Deidara was a 3 kilometer high Shukaku replica, and standing on top was Gaara, safely standing on his head at eye level as Deidara.

"I saw what your latest attack could do. Very efficient I must say. But, that won't save you since whatever you can make, I can do the same exponentially bigger. Despite your size manipulation of clay, it's still limited, while my manipulation of sand is absolute." Gaara boasted. Deidara growled.

"Damn you! You say your jutsu is absolute! Nothing compares to my art! Art is of the moment, and I'll show you my art right now!" He was about to rip off his shirt to perform his ultimate technique, he then couldn't move. "What?! Why can't I move!"

"When I saw those animals die, I knew there was something wrong in their air. Something they might've inhaled, so I sent my sand into your respiratory system and blood stream. I now control you." Deidara was quivering in fear, having met someone who could match his art and exceed it. Because couldn't move, he couldn't re-adjust his balance and fell off his clay bird. "And now... you shall die." Gaara simply stated as he floated away with a platform of sand while the 3 kilometer high Shukaku replica started falling over, right in the way of the doomed Akatsuki.

"My art... is ruined." Deidara whispered to himself in depressed defeat as the sand behemoth fell on his, forcing him to endure a crushing weight above his as he came closer and closer into the ground, until he was buried under the sea of sand. Once Gaara touched down on the mass of sand, he slammed his hands into it yelling,

"Giant Sand Burial!" All of the sand compressed into rock, already crushing anything into compressed matter nobody would recognize from anywhere. It was Gaara's victory.  
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A/N: Yes, I am aware that in the story, Deidara beat Gaara, but that had different circumstances. One, it took place in Sunagakure, where there were people to threaten with the C3 technique, thus diverting Gaara's attention. Two, Gaara always left himself exposed in eyesight, letting himself be taken by surprise even with his automatic sand shield. Here, it was one on one with nothing distracting Gaara, and even in the story he was at a advantage for the most part in plain sight, so if he kept himself hidden, he could eliminate being taken by surprise and always be protected. Deidara may be powerful and versatile, but Gaara just has too many advantages if the conditions were equal for both sides. I'll be back soon to publish Round 3. Sayonara


	4. Round 3 & 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Puppets and lava

A/N: I'm taking liberty of making Hidan more awesome. His normal technique of Jashin is really impractical, and he's said to be a 5/5 of ninjutsu, so I'm going with that.  
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As Gaara stepped down from the pile of compacted sand rock he noticed when from the ground, Roshi and Han burst from the ground, using a earth jutsu to keep everyone safe. They were followed from the rest of the group, except for Utakata and Hotaru whom likely remained in there.

"Wow, you beat Deidara?! Naruto asked in amazement.

"Way to go Gaara!" Fu complimented as she and Naruto hugged the sand manipulator, whom was getting quite uncomfortable.

"Thank you but get off." He quickly pleaded. The two let go while Temari and Kankuro replaced the jinchuriki as huggers.

"I was worried for you." Temari whispered in relief.

"Yeah. I mean, I had total faith in you, but I wasn't sure how much explosiveness you could withstand with sand alone." Kankuro said in a way like he believed in Gaara more. Gaara lightly smiled.

"I appreciate your concerns. But in the end, all art withers away from the sands of time."

"Oh, Gaara made a joke! That's funny!" Naruto bellowed with laughter as Fu joined him. Although the joke itself may not have been funny in of itself, the fact it came from Gaara of all people did make the other sand siblings chuckle once they realized. On the other side, The Akatsuki came out from a black hole that appeared, thanks to Tobi.

"Aw man, I was so hoping I could impress you all with that in a much cooler way!" Tobi cried out having to save them all with his ace.

"So all this time, every time an attack passed through you or you disappeared, that's where you went?" Itachi questioned.

"Yeah but the surprise is ruined! I was saving that for maybe a birthday party or when the Akatsuki reached it's goal or whatever the hell Pain's doing!" He fell on the ground crying.

"Ignore Tobi. Despite the recent development of his teleportation ability he kept secret, we still have a mission." Pain said. He looked at the jinchuriki still had Gaara, and a giant rock in the middle of the field. "It's fair to say Deidara has been killed."

"I'll go." Hiruko, the croutching Akatsuki said. "I can't wait anymore. I have business with their puppeteer."

"If that is what you wish, then do so." Pain allowed. Hiruko nodded before stepping up. Hidan spoke up on his behalf.

"Hey, which one of you is the puppeteer of the group?!" Kankuro perked up hearing his description and stood up.

"That's me! What do you want?!" He yelled back.

"The guy of front is a puppeteer as well! In fact, he came from the same village you did!" Hidan revealed. This really got Kankuro's attention. He left the group and stared at the heavily deformed human.

"You're a Suna Puppeteer?" He asked in anticipation.

"Yes."

"Were you part of the Puppet Master Corps?"

"What of it?"

"If it's true, then it's only fair that fellow puppeteers display their skill, see who is the superior puppet master."

"Please, whatever skill you may have, it's nothing compared to what I can do. I have years over you." Kankuro grunted in annoyance as he took off three scrolls from his body and summoned forth his puppets.

"Crow! Black Ant! Salamander!" Connected by chakra strings, he had three chattering puppets looking similar to what he said. To test his reflexes, he sent out Crow on the attack, from under the Akatsuki's robe came out a metallic scorpion tail, ensnaring Crow.

"You caught Crow at his fastest."

"The spider needs to be as fast as the fly." Hiruko stated. He then threw the puppet onto the ground hard. Using that same tail, it extended past the puppet and attack Kankuro, but he leapt back and started swirling Crow and Black Ant around Hiruko rapidly. He wasn't deterred. Crow shot kunai out of it's mouth, though they were deflected by the tail. Black Ant, whom disappeared in the scuffle, burst from the ground and encased the Akatsuki in it's chest cavity.

"Now!" Kankuro exclaimed as he detached the limbs from Crow and had them produce swords. They aimed at the slots on Black Ant. "Secret Black Move: Iron Maiden!" The swords raced to Black Ant, slamming into the slots, making it look like Black Ant gained more arms, legs, and a head. However, instead of blood, sand was escaping from the inside. ("Sand?") He opened up Black Ant, only to see a sand clone of Hiruko. From behind, the Akatsuki dug himself out of the ground of the battlefield. By instinct rather than thinking, he reassembled Crow and had its four arms shoot long needles but they were easily dodged. He also swatted away Black Ant when it tried attacking from behind. Kankuro was sweating from this apparent difficulty. He detached every limb from the two puppets he was using and rushed them at Kiruko. They were also deflected.

"What's wrong? Running out of tricks? I'm getting bored, so it's my turn." He said. He shot his scorpion tail at Kankuro, but he moved Salamander in front of him to deflect the attack with a shield flap.

"Heh, attack as much as you like. As long as I'm behind Salamander, you can't touch me." He boasted.

"No matter how strong the puppet is, it always has a weakness." The scorpion man said. He aimed the tail right at the shield but redirected it at the last moment, hitting a joint that got rid of the shield.

"What?!" He was too distracted to effectively evade the tail heading towards him and was slightly stabbed, thanks to him grabbing hold of it so that it didn't skewer him. The tail withdrew to Hikuro.

"You have talent. You might have even won against Deidara or Hidan, but you've already lost." In three swift movements faster than Kankuro can dodge or prevent, Hiruko used his tail to destroy all of Kankuro's puppets.

"Crow! Black Ant! Salamander!" He cried out in horror. The rest of his family gasped in shock, utterly flabbergasted he was defeated so easily.

"Hehe, you must be wondering how I can anticipate every attack. The answer is simple. I'm their inventor." Kankuro's eyes widened. "I have to say, despite hating dragging things out, it feels nostalgic seeing my old toys again."

"So that means... you're the legendary master of the puppet corps. Sasori of the Red Sand."

"I'm honored my name is so well known, even to a child."

"You deserted us 20 years ago. Why return?" He asked seething.

"There's no point in answering when you're about to die." Sasori replied as he showed off his tail. Kankuro gasped as he could feel his body rapidly growing weaker. He fell down onto his front.

"Kankuro!" Temari cried out. Hiruko poised his tail.

"It's over now!" His tail was about to kill when a voice called out.

"Summoning Blade Dance!" Sasori's tail was pushed back by a gust of wind, and the puppeteer was caught off guard by an out of nowhere weasel carrying and surrounded by sickles, cutting deep into his cloak and cut off his tail, disabling him. As for the rest of the attack, the rest of the Akatsuki jumped away from the cutting whirlwinds that left deep gashes in the earth they stood on. The family turned to see Temari with her giant fan open with a blood line near the base. Fu saw her chance and flew to Kankuro to get him out of the way. Temari continued. "Wind Style: Cyclone Wind Scythe Jutsu!" A mighty hurricane force of wind swept across the battle field, picking up the crippled Akatsuki while shredding him to pieces even more. Temari used her fan to manipulate the wind and create a tornado arc. "Tornado drop!" From there, a series of unexpected actions occurred. First was that as soon as he was smashed into the ground, a giant pile of puppets appeared. Second was a giant explosion of fire mixed with jets of water caused the whole pile to explode in a steam filled inferno. Temari blinked a couple of times before admitting,

"Uh, I meant to kill the guy, but I totally did not plan that at all." The remaining Akatsuki were just as bewildered.

"Whoa, where did that bonfire come from?! Where's Sasori?!" Tobi questioned hopelessly confused.

"He must've had scrolls underneath that cloak of his." Pain reasoned. "Her chakra enhanced wind must've disrupted them enough to open them and damaged them enough to release all their content at once."

"Still, hundreds of puppets from the looks of the fire, that seems overkill." Kisame pointed out. Once she got over her surprise, she remembered and ran back to her group with the injured Kankuro.

"What happened to him?! She pleaded.

"He says he's been poisoned." Yugito answered cool headed. "He needs to see a medical-nin." Naruto then got an idea.

"Guys, you need to go to Konoha. Granny Tsunade should be able to heal him, or Sakura."

"Very well. Thank you Naruto." Temari thanked as she hoisted her brother onto her back. Utakata came out of the tunnel that he stayed in.

"I'm coming too. I need to make sure Hotaru is okay, and you could use someone as back up if need be."

"Alright. You two go. We'll stay behind and beat them." Yugito said confidently. Temari and Utakata nodded before hauling off with their respective partners.

"I'm getting tired of this defiance. Hidan, Kakuzu, go." Pain ordered getting impatient.

"Finally, now I can relish in their suffering!" Hidan shouted in relief.

"Shut up and focus on the mission. I may let you get defeated just so you know you messed up." Kakuzu warned.

"hmph, you don't have to concern yourself about me. Just stay out of my way." Hidan retorted. The jinchuriki family noticed the two coming.

"Those must be Hidan and Kakuzu Pain mentioned." Jiraiya said as he remembered.

"Ready to go brother?" Roshi asked with a grin.

"Of course. This will be the perfect opportunity to try out my improved steam armor." Han answered while cracking his knuckles. The first two on two battle was about to commence, even if it was more like two one on one at once. Thanks to his more technologically improved armor, Han pressed a button on his chest, and steam escaped from 76 new holes placed on the outer and inner sides of his arms, the front and back of his legs, the front and back of his torso, the bottom of his feet and palms of his hand. Ramping up the power of the furnace on his back, this cause condensed steam to erupt from every hole on his back side. "Vapor Style: Steam Charge!" Steam came from the bottom of his feet, thus letting the steam behind him push him forward accelerating rapidly. By the time he reached Kakuzu, the Akatsuki jumped up and Han had to blow steam from his frontward holes to stop in 5 seconds. He then turned around to catch a punch from Kakuzu, he attempted to deliver a steam enhanced punch, but that was caught as well. Han jumped so his body was parallel to the ground and the feet and front holes blew out steam so that he could push against the enemy easier. Kakuzu tried to hold his ground, but with the increasing force in front of him, his feet dug into the ground before he was skidding across the ground and eventually was being pushed into the air. While Han was creating a pretty good distraction for Kakuzu, Roshi grinned as he stared down Hidan.

"Looks like your on you're own for real now." He stated.

"Like I need his assistance. I'm the third physically strongest Akatsuki." Hidan gloated.

"Strength isn't everything." Roshi advised as he took a preparation stance. Hidan went into an insane laugh as he charged, readying his scythe. Roshi clapped his hands together, grew a tail and said just as the scythe was about to reach him,

"Lava Style Chakra Mode." His body then started creating lava around his body. He ducked under the weapon and grabbed the handle, damaging it and melting it in two as Roshi formed an enlarged fist of lava in front of the sheer surprised Akatsuki and punched Hidan away. He cried in pained pleasure, his right pectoral, shoulder and arm being burnt.

"Wow! Such exotic pain! I've been burned before but this is quite new! It seems I can't take chances." He ran to a part of the battle field where the lake surrounding the island was. He made a hand sign. "Water Style: Super Exploding Water Shockwave!" He spewed out a lot of water, creating practically a tsunami of water. As a counter, Roshi clapped his hands and then punched the ground, sending chakra into it.

"Lava Style: Volcanic Eruption Jutsu!" From below him, the ground started swelling rapidly, as if the island were suddenly growing a pimple. Gaara formed a platform of sand under his family and ascended high above and away so they weren't hit by the tsunami or volcano. At first it looked like Roshi was too late as he and the mountain were swallowed by the tsunami, making Hidan grin. But he was taken by surprise as Roshi still rose higher from out of the maximum height of the water jutsu, the rock cocoon around him melting into lava as the montain below him grew to about 1500 feet, dwarfing Hidan and his new surrounding ocean. He marveled at the hot glowing island as Roshi smirked, before raising his fists and slamming them down hitting the peak, causing said peak to erupt violently, spewing lava, fire and rocks everywhere. Kisame performed the same water jutsu Hidan did and created his own tsunami so that the Akatsuki were not overcome by the volcano's contents, turning the incoming lava to rock. Seeing the incoming rock, Hidan made a few more hand signs before shouting,

"Water Style: Giant Vortex Jutsu!" From the sea he created, a giant spinning vortex of water shifted from behind the Akatsuki and received most of the incoming lava rocks. Riding on the uprising lava, Roshi clapped his hands again.

"Lava Style: Lava Dragon Jutsu!" Lava morphed into a dragon and aimed towards the vortex. Upon contact, the dragon cooled into rock but it still had momentum moving like a missile out of the vortex and speeding towards Hidan. He yelped and jumped out of the way. He grinned before bashed into by a lava rock thrown by Roshi. He slammed into the water, creating a giant amount of steam. As the water drained into the sea and the mountain soonbecame empty and thus collapsing onto itself so that it became relatively flat terrain again, if very jagged and broken of rocks. Roshi fell onto the muddied ground, the lava chakra mode wearing off. He looked to a certain rock and approached it. He morphed his arms into Son Goku's and lifted the rock away, seeing a thoroughly cooked Hidan, breathing very difficultly and his skin blackened. Roshi gripped the grievously injured Akatsuki by the neck and lifted him up. "I must say, using water style jutsu was smart, and you were quite good to create and manipulate that much. But rarely anything overcomes an erupting volcano. Anyway, time to die." Roshi commended before generating lava from his free fist and plunged it into Hidan's stomach. Hidan started screaming in pain as he chest cavity started glowing before the man started choking and throwing up lava melting his jaw. Finally, he jerked before his head exploded with blood, bones and lava, splattering on Roshi. He dropped the corpse and coated the rest of the body in lava so that nothing remained. He shook the lava off his hand and the tail he grew withdrew back into him. At around the same time, Han flew back to him. His armor looked scorched, slightly melted and cracked, but otherwise not too bad. "So, how are you?"

"Maybe a few broken bones, but I can handle it." Han answered before coughing rather roughly.

"And Kakuzu?"

"Crushed by Kokuo." The two brothers bumped fists.  
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A/N: Wow. I was not expecting to make Hidan this awesome. I was planning on giving Han and Kakuzu more attention, but I doubt he has enough power to take on a full sized tailed beast by his own once his masks start overpowering Han by numbers and jutsu variety, which honestly doesn't sound too epic to write. Once I reached the end, I figured Hidan needed to die gruesomely, so I took inspiration from Mortal Kombat. Tell me what you think in reviews. Sayonara.


	5. Final Round

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One more fight.

A/N: Alright, so what will happen may be a bit controversial in terms of presentation, but hear me out at around the end as there is an explanation.  
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Gaara went back down to ground lever, looking un-reassured now that the ground was mud and now harder to control unless it instantly dried. Naruto and Fu, unlike him, went up to the two older men and started praising their performance in their victory.

"Wow, that was cool, Roshi! When you created that volcano and made it explode... that was epically awesome!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Yeah, I agree. And Han, when it seemed like you were going to be overwhelmed, I was fearful for your life! But when you turned into Kokuo and swatted away five of those stringy squid things, that was... I don't know what to even say!" The Zenpoe brothers were attempting to keep face but they couldn't help but show the appreciation in their eyes and smiles.

"Please, it was nothing, really. But thank you." Roshi said with modesty.

"Yes." Han then coughed in pain. "I may need to have a lie down though. He did not go down so easy." He requested as he was aided by Roshi and Yugito to be benched.

"What the hell? We've been beaten again?" Kisame questioned quite annoyed at this point. Half is their team was killed with only two of them injured to some capacity. This shouldn't be happening.

"I should've anticipated they'd try to split the two up." Pain admitted with disappointment. "They figured they were a perfect duo so they split them up since Hidan is weak without Kakuzu and those two didn't need to fight codependently. The cost today is high."

"Hmph, I'll be sure to even the table if just a little bit." Kisame said with a determined growl as he approached the field now, cracking his knuckles.

"Uh oh, the next person is up." Naruto pointed out, noticing the blue tinted man.

"Utakata would've fought him, but he's not here. So it's my... turn." Fu concluded, her face turning into a rare frown. Naruto offered a fist bump to her, smiling. Fu returned the smile as she bumped his hand back, and then leaned forward to peck him on the lips for half a second before straightening up. "Wish me luck." She stated before growing wings and flying off. Naruto grinned. Once she got within close enough distance where they weren't close but could certainly hear each other, Kisame scoffed.

"What? They sent a little girl to kill me? I can't believe this." Kisame scoffed. Fu puffed out her cheeks in annoyance before stomping her foot and yelling,

"Hey, I'll have you know, I host the lucky seven tails, Chomei! With him by my side, I know we can win this!"

"Heh, whatever girl." Kisame brushed off before creating hand signs. He yelled out,

"Water Syle: Water Dragon Jutsu!" A dragon made out of the surrounding water formed and went on the attack. Fu clapped her hands together.

"Secret Art: Counter Wind Wave Jutsu!" Two giant winged tails came from her lower back and swept a powerful gust through the field that not only negated the attack, but sent it right back at the aquatic Akatsuki. He looked somewhat surprised as he grabbed his bandaged sword and slashed the dragon to droplets and used his sword to block the blunt of the wind counter. The bandages at the tip ripped away to reveal what looks like shark scales. The sword grew bigger and started growling.

"Hmm. Not bad. Samehada must've really liked the taste of that wind. Maybe just to be safe I shouldn't hold back." He muttered to himself. He then shouted out,

"You think you saw a tsunami from Hidan?! You have no idea what true power of the ocean looks like!" From that, Yugito ordered Gaara,

"Gaara, take us high up! We're not safe on the ground!"

"When are we ever?!" Naruto pointed out as Gaara created a platform once again. Fu heard that and shrunk her wings for better speed.

"Water Style: Super Exploding Water Shockwave!" If what Hidan did was considered big, Kisame outperformed him by unleashing a 500 foot high wall of water coming down on the poor Jinchuriki girl. She screamed in terror as she flew away as fast as possible. Feeling the same, Tobi sent Itachi, Pain and himself into the other dimension again before their standing point was washed away. This time, nothing of the 35 km2 area of land survived the surge of water, the whole thing being covered up by the chakra made ocean, and Kisame stood right in the middle of it. Fu unfortunately got caught in the attack and was swept away as everything got covered in water. Once the torrent calmed down, Fu realized that her usual advantage of the field of was gone. Clapping her hands together, she blew out an air bubble that stayed connected to her mouth and surrounded her head. Once it was of adequate size, she panted a bit panicked like, but eventually calmed down within a moment. But what she saw really got her as she almost released the air bubble around her head. Kisame's sword was gone, but he appeared to have become much more shark like, having grown fins, a tail, and gills on his shoulders.

"Get ready, because things are going to get bloody." He stated with bloodlust as he swam towards the hindered kunoichi. In response, Fu morphed her legs into winged tails and grew two rows of tails on her lower and upperback respectively to keep away. She tried moving to the surface but it appeared to be moving away.

"I can sense it, Fu. This ocean he covered us in; it moves wherever he moves. He's always going to be the epicenter of all this, so we're stuck underwater unless we outspeed him."

"Aw man! If we can't escape, then we'll just have to fight until our dying breath." Fu boasted with renewed determination and stopped swimming to perform a hand sign.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Around Fu was 12 more of the jinchuriki, making a baker's dozen. Kisame stopped swimming to observe this.

"It doesn't matter how many of you you'll make, Samehada and I will absorb and eat all your chakra until there's nothing left!

"Oh yeah? Well you'll have to catch us first!" All the Fu's yelled before they clapped their hands together and shouted,

"Secret Art: Sparkly Powder Obstruction!" They all ran away in different directions, only now their wings were shedding off power scales scattering them in the ocean. Kisame clapped his hands together and shoved one of his hands out.

"Water Style: Five Hungry Sharks!" Rushing from him were five shark constructs forming from the surrounding water and began chase of some of the clones with Kisame attempting to find the real one. For every minute, a shark was able to bite down on a clone, thus dissipating into a released mass of smoke and power scales, polluting the water more. After Kisame killed another clone himself reducing the number of clones down to six, he noticed how he was having trouble breathing.

(Ugh, despite becoming stronger from all this chakra, it's like I'm inhaling smoke. Wait, the scales. They're not only making it harder to see visually, I'm breathing in powdered water! And the more they disappear, the more the water is polluted! I need to release the jutsu!") He clapped his hands together yelling, "Release!" With the water no longer being controlled, it started rapidly flow off the island, draining out to see like before. Fu noticed this and all six flew out of the receding water. Once all the water was gone except for the mud, Fu touched down squishing the ground while Kisame coughed out powdered water from his lungs, expelling Samehada from his body so that it became a sword again, making the Akatsuki become more human like.

"Well, what do you know. I had a counter for your greatest technique." The shark man laughed evilly.

"You think that just because I'm out of the water I'm as useless as a dry fish? Never underestimate the power of the Tailless Beast!" He clapped his hands together and shot them out. "Water Style: Super Shark Bomb Jutsu!" All the water around him formed into another shark and it was prepared to eat them all. The six clones formed dark purple orbs in their hands the size of tennis balls.

"Tailed Beast Bombs!" The Fu clones threw the bombs at the shark and it was stopped in it's place by the attacks.

"Nice try brat, but this technique absorbs chakra, meaning that those bombs are simply making mine more powerful!" He boasted crazily, but he did not anticipate for all six flying out of the way and going behind him. He noticed what they were doing as they started fluttering their wings fast.

"Fan Slash!" They sent out from their wings air slashes as they homed in on the water ninja, holding up his shark bomb. He jumped out of the way, letting the slashes collide into the shark bomb holding back the tailed beast bombs, and that resulted in an explosion. Kisame grinned until he saw the clones fly in and shoved six more tailed beasts bombs into his body, blowing out his entire insides. He fell to the ground as Fu softly touched down and cheered.

"Alright! I took down an Akatsuki too!" She went on until Kisame said,

"Don't be too sure." Before pooling into water as it was a clone. Fu barely had enough time to react as Kisame was right behind her, just about to shred her to pieces with Samehada in hand.

"Die!" He shouted. "With a clap of her hands, something went wrong for the shark man as his insides expanded for a second and Kisame regurgitated a lot of blood. Fu ducked so that Kisame fell flat on his face into the mud, Samehada squirming as it's stored up chakra was going to Kisame to try to heal him.

"What- what did you do to me?" He questioned with a gurgle and blood seeping from his nose, eyes and ears

"It was all Lucky Seven Chomei's plan. He figured obstructing your sight and making it difficult to breathe underwater wasn't a good enough idea, so he laced tail beast energy into the powder scales so that you secretly inhaled bombs. They were coursing through your respiratory and circulatory system the moment you inhaled them. If I had to guess, the dust in your arteries went from the size of cells to grains of sugar. All of your big arteries are destroyed, and your lungs and heart have ruptured. Maybe even the bones have been damaged enough to let out the marrow inside. I'd imagine that even if someone were to heal from that, there's too much blood having been spilt outside to get back in, and there'll be blood inside the lungs and alveoli by the time they're whole again."

"Damn it! Your tailed beast took advantage of the fact I was a shark! Samehada has been healing me, but I still can't move!" The shark man cursed as he coughed up more blood.

"Yeah. I'd imagine you're body's in too much shock to move. It's only fitting that I kill you now." Fu explained with a happy grin as she took out a kunai, safely scooted Samehada out of the way so it couldn't heal its master, and shoved the kunai through his neck coming out the back of his throat, cutting off everything from the brain so he could suffocate/bleed out in peace. Fu then grew her tailed wings and went back to her family in the sky. Once she landed on Gaara's floating platform, she was hugged by Naruto right away.

"I'm so proud of you Fu! You did an amazing job! Believe it!" Fu smiled as she kissed him.

"Thank you Naruto." Then she went around and kissed Gaara as well. "And I know how you're feeling too, Sandy Boy." Gaara blushed and looked away from everyone present, but he was blushing and slightly smiling. Down below, the remaining three Akatsuki couldn't believe it.

"Man, Kisame couldn't even beat a tiny girl jinchuriki? How the hell are they so strong?!" Tobi questioned starting to become outraged.

"I think I know." Pain stated, making Itachi and Tobi look at him in anticipation. "It must be Jiraiya. He's been training them for quite some time for us. If I had to wager, he made sure that each jinchuriki was prepared for any S-class scenario he's experienced. We may have known of their training and abilities, but we didn't factor in how prepared they would be, and believed they couldn't beat us even with training. We vastly underestimated them. Itachi, I don't want to risk losing you as well. I will fight sensei." Pain ordered.

"As you wish." Itachi obeyed as he stepped back. Pain stepped forward and shouted,

"Mortals! You have defied us for too long! I will defeat your sensei, and then I'll defeat you all myself!"

"Yeah?! Bring it!" We can take you all at once!"

"Wait." Jiraiya said, stopping Naruto.

"I've done research of the rinnegan, Pain's eyes. They're the most powerful eyes you'll meet. They can manipulate attractive and repulsive force, alter the body, extract souls, summons the strongest animal summons, have access to the King of Hell, and even revive the dead."

"What?! Then that gives us even more reason to gang up on him! Go all tailed beast and blast them all to kingdom come!"

"You don't understand. He can manipulate gravity, revive the Akatsuki if allowed to do so, and summon the greatest of summons. Just those enough could defeat all 9 of you, and there's still Itachi Uchiha and that one guy who can manipulate portals. All of you are strong and skilled, but only I'm skilled enough to keep them at bay long enough to let you escape." Jiraiya explained. Naruto started to tear up.

"Pervy sage, I don't want you to die!" Jiraiya smiled as he ruffled the young blonde's hair.

"Don't worry about this old geezer. My life has been nothing but failure, despite being a sannin, but raising and training you, that is my magnum opus. I'm satisfied." Naruto wondered what he meant before he was chopped on the neck and fell back into Fu's arms.

"You knocked him out?!" She questioned worriedly.

"He would've found a way to stay here. I need you to leave. Now. Before there's no time."

"If you think that's best... We'll retreat." Yugito nodded, unsure about the circumstances.

"Tell Naruto I'm sorry." The sannin requested. Everybody nodded as Fu handed Naruto to Temari and walked away from the group before letting her body transform into Chomei, with everybody getting on and the tailed beast flying away.

"Itachi, don't let them get away." Pain ordered.

"Yes." The Uchiha said as he tried to run and go after them, but he was blocked when Jiraiya summoned the giant toad, Gamaken. He slammed his sasumata weapon into the ground, cutting him off from chasing the family.

"All of you. Get home safely." Jiraiya prayed before creating the shadow clone sign.  
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A/N: Okay, before anybody asks, Naruto, Gaara and Fu are not in a full on relationship. It's merely dipping into romantic interest since nobody else is around. They're open to dissolving the arrangement if one finds a romantic partner, or become an actual relationship if everybody is committed. Plus I know some of you are Jinchuriki shippers who like Naruto/Gaara or Naruto/Fu so keep your pitchforks down. Also, If some of you are upset that Fu beat Kisame because the shark man gave Guy a hard time even though he was at seventh gate, let me tell you, microscopic bombs in your blood system sounds really debilitating, even if you have a healing factor. I mean, whenever I see healing factors here, it's not like Deadpool or any of those others from Marvel and DC. The healing here unless it's Tsunade and Sakura looks limited and non absolute, otherwise that person would be 100% honkey dory. I mean, Kisame still had a giant bruise from where he had all of his front ripped off in canon. So Sadehada's healing is not Deadpool or Tsunade level healing. If there's something you still want to complain about, at least don't be harsh or rude about it. Be positive and constructive about it. One last thing, uploading frequency will decrease for this story, as this story is sort of exhausting for me to write, so I'm doing it on my less stressful days of the week. I'm sorry if this inconveniences you in a way. Sayonara.


	6. Return

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naruto returns to the hidden leaf village.

Naruto was rising from his slumber, feeling a crick in his neck until her popped the joints. He groaned before he heard a girl's voice beside him.

"Naruto-kun, you're awake!" He was startled into being fully awake to see the female next to him. She had long raven black hair and wore a baggy purple and white coat. But it was her eyes, belonging only to one clan that he knew of.

"Hinata?" He was then hugged by the crying Hyuga girl.

"It's been so long! I missed you so much every day!"

"Hinata, that's great, but what's happening?!" He gasped, struggling to breath. Once she got all out, she was eventually able to answer,

"You were brought in very late last night. So far the only people that know you're back is Lady Hokage, Sakura and Kakashi."

"Then why are you here?"

"Because I couldn't sleep, so I was outside meditating and I thought I heard your name in an urgent tone so I followed." She explained. Naruto looked out and gazed out at the afternoon light outside of the room. He got off the bed and went to the window, looking down at the very familiar city.

"I'm home. I returned to the hidden leaf village." He mumbled to himself. He heard a sniffle before hearing his thought being confirmed.

"That's right. You're home." It was then that Sakura came in and saw Naruto up and awake.

"Naruto." She whispered. He turned to her and smiled seeing her. He chuckled, making Sakura smile gently from seeing her friend in over two years. She then noticed something.

"Wait, you've grown taller than me, have you?" Naruto thought about it and realized she did seem a couple of inches shorter.

"Yeah, I guess so. I don't really know my exact height though." Naruto chuckled again, a little more embarrassed this time. Sakura's smile grew a little and she began to blush.

"So, do I look more like a woman after all this time?"

"Heh, from what I see, you haven't changed at all. Just taller." Naruto admitted honestly, making the kunoichi stiffen. She then turned away in annoyance.

"Oh, that's right! We need to let everybody know you're awake. I'm sure your family will be so glad to see you good as new." Hinata suggested. Naruto then gasped in realization.

"Oh yeah, I need to see how they're doing!"

"Well, follow me. They're talking with Tsunade." Sakura said as she led Naruto and Hinata to the rest of the jinchuriki.

"Ah, so that explains everything." Tsunade concluded as she had the whole explanation told to her.

"Yes. Is there anything else you'd like to know about?" Yugito offered. Tsunade was about to ask when they heard knocking and Sakura's voice pass through the door.

"Lady Tsunade, Naruto's awake and here." Everybody smiled to some extent.

"Bring him in." The Hokage said as Sakura opened the door and she, Naruto and Hinata entered.

"Naruto, I'm so happy to see you up and okay." Yugito sighed in relief. Fu went straight up to Naruto and gave him a great big hug.

"Yeah! It's always good knowing your good." She added.

"Naruto, it's been a long time." Tsunade remarked.

"It sure has Granny. The past two years have been great." He replied.

"Good to hear it. You know, I've brought over somebody so that we can see what you can do." Tsunade said smirking.

"What I can do?" Naruto asked confused.

"Oh please. You may no longer be a Konoha ninja, but you've surely improved since Jiraiya and your family have been training."

"Jiraiya-sensei! Where is he?!" Naruto shouted, realizing he wasn't among them. Then he remembered that he was the one to knock him out.

"Naruto, he stayed behind to save all of us." Yugito answered.

"We have to go back for him!" Naruto pleaded.

"Naruto, it's likely he's dead. Nobody stays behind unless they're certain they're going to die." Han tried explaining.

"How would you know?! He could be coming back as we speak!" Naruto cried out in saddened anger.

"Naruto." He heard Kurama call out from his mind. "What's the point in believing in something impossible? How often do people who stay back like that survive? As he said, Pain alone was enough to beat seven of you all at once. And he was fighting an Uchiha as well. What are the chances that codger could survive such a circumstance?"

"I know it's slim, but he's Jiraiya! He's a sannin! He's... he's... he's..." He just collapsed onto his knees, struggling very hard to accept that not only his teacher, but the closest thing he had to a father was dead. Fu whom was already by his side dropped down and hugged him tightly, crying. To Naruto, none of this felt real. Time was meaningless. He was trained by first Kakashi and then Jiraiya to never let emotions to cloud his judgement, because a teammate could die. He was ready to lay down his life for his family and teacher, but he wasn't able to do anything to save his teacher. The others watched with shared grief on their faces, though none could probably feel the same magnitude Naruto was going through, actually losing a father figure after having his actual one die before he could know him. It was surreal to Naruto, as he couldn't hear or feel anything in this moment of pure emotional agony. He wanted to go to sleep even though he just woke up. His teacher was gone, his second sensei... and father. "It shouldn't gone like this." Naruto sobbed. From then, each of his remaining family family came in to hug him. Gaara, Yugito, Temari, Roshi, Han and Utakata. Sakura and Hinata weren't sure whether they should join or not. It was then that Kakashi came into the room from the window, not bearing to hear anymore.

"So, this is what I see after these years? This is a little more depressing then I pictured in my head." He said, sounding sympathetic. Naruto raised his head to see his previous teacher.

"Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto tried shaking off his tears and attempted to smile. "I'm glad to see you haven't changed one bit."

"I'm sorry of your loss. Perhaps I know of something that can alleviate the pain somewhat." The jonin offered.

"Yeah, what's that?"

"How about you and Sakura face against me in a training session. I'm interested in seeing how much you both improved." Kakashi explained. Naruto's family moved away except for Fu.

"Yes, this was actually why I brought him here." Tsunade reminded. "Sakura, it's time to show that your training with me wasn't a waste of time. Sakura turned to her teacher.

"Right." She agreed, ready to prove herself.

"Naruto, do you think you're up to this? What if you're not ready due to your mourning?" Fu questioned worriedly. Naruto wiped his eyes and nose and stood up, his smile becoming a little sincere now.

"No, this will be good for me. It'll be a tribute to Jiraiya-sensei to show Kakashi-sensei what I learned from him." He then turned to the rest of his family. "And what I learned from all of you." His family members smiled.

"Very well. Come with me." Kakashi said before he leapt off the building, followed by his two pupils.

"Wow, this brings back memories." Naruto commented as he looked around the training ground where he and Squad 7 passed. He remembered that one day that made him a bonafide ninja.

"Oh yeah, this was the sight of your very first training lesson, wasn't it?" Kakashi asked in reminiscence, reading a book.

"It was Squad 7." Sakura affirmed, her eyes nearly closed.

"All four of us."

"With Sasuke." Everybody was getting all down and gloomy, which really set Kakashi off from the display.

("I guess Sasuke's name is taboo to these guys.") Kakashi thought to himself. To get their attention, he took out some bells and jangled them, succeeding as they looked up in recognition.

"Okay, enough moping. Show me how far each of you has come. After all, you two never gave up on Sasuke, have you?" Sakura punched the ground in defiance as she stood up.

"Not a chance." She denied, regaining confidence.

"What do you think I put myself through all these years?" Naruto inquired, his fiery spirit coming back.

"The rules are the same as back then. I don't care how, just get them away from me. And remember..."

"If we aren't prepared to kill you..." Naruto began,

"We won't get the bells. We know." Sakura concluded.

"Alright. We won't be needing a timer. You've got till sunrise tomorrow. So, shall we get started?" Kakashi questioned, closing his book.

"I hope you won't be reading that book all day. We'll be coming at you with full force." Naruto challenged.

"No. In fact, I bet he already finished reading it." Sakura retorted as she put combat gloves on.

"Not quite, but I'll save it for later. Besides, I have a feeling I better keep on my toes." Kakashi moved his headband, revealing his one sharingan. Off in the distance, Tsunade, Shizune and all of Naruto's family, except for Kankuro and Hotaru as they were still recovering, were there, watching to see how far Naruto reached.

"All right, let's go!" Naruto yelled out as he threw shuriken at Kakashi who ducked. He threw his own kunai at the orange clad ninja while he was mid air. He made a sing and shouted, "Shadow clone jutsu!" A clone appeared aside him and dragged him out of the way. Once the two landed on the ground, the clone transformed into a fuma shuriken and was about to be thrown when Naruto felt himself in the same trap he was in all those years ago with Kakashi behind him.

"That'll be enough of that." Kakashi said. Naruto smiled as he noticed Kakashi realized he had another Naruto clone behind him.

"Impressive. He managed to dodge the sharingan." Yugito nodded with approval.

"He's as fast as my absolute defense. That will prove useful against sharingan users." Gaara added.

"Yeah, yeah Naruto! Beat your teacher blow for blow!" Fu cheered like a cheerleader.

"Fu, please quiet down. This is something that needs no distraction." Han lightly warned her. She simply blushed with a smile and twirled her fingers around in encouragement.

"You've gotten better, have you?" Kakashi subtly grinned under his mask. "However, you're still as impatient as ever. You didn't even let me say start yet. Now let's do this properly." Sakura and Naruto tensed up in positive anticipation. "Ready? Start." Kakashi then poofed into smoke, leaving the three alone.

"What? Aw, he tricked me again!" Naruto complained.

"Naruto, you dummy!" She scolded him. With quick thinking, she clenched her fist and punched the ground, practically making it explode with flying rocks and unsettled dirt. Naruto cried out as he had to jump out of the way. Everybody except for Tsunade and Shizune had bugged out eyes and their jaws nearly reaching the ground flabbergasted by the display of her monstrous strength.

"Han, I don't think we can match her in terms of ninjutsu. She'd just punch her way through everything we'd dish out." Roshi remarked to Han, who didn't respond as he placed a hand over his armor, hoping he was never on the receiving end of those punches.

"Wow. I wish I was as strong as her." Fu bemoaned as she was both impressed and intimidated.

"Kakashi-sensei? I found you didn't I?" Sakura asked smugly. Kakashi jumped onto a rock, and after quickly analyzing her, he ran off into the woods, with his two pupils following in pursuit. After jumping from tree branch to tree branch and eventually landing in a bush, observed his surroundings. He spotted just a tiny hint of orange garb and looked right to see a few strands of pink hair. Naruto stepped out and threw kunai at his teacher once he looked away. He dodged out of reflex and jumped off a tree with kunai in hand, seeing Naruto coming at him with another kunai. They clashed with a high pitched clang and sparks. It was then that Naruto and Sakura stood side by side.

"Well, it's time for today's lesson. Shinobi battle skills number 1, taijutsu." Kakashi said as she charged forward while throwing a right round house kick which Naruto ducked under, stepped aside from a punch and jumped over another kick to land on a branch. Sakura came in swinging punches Kakashi was easily able to sidestep each time until he backed up against a wall, so he had to maneuver to the left as Sakura punched through the tree.

"Shadow clone jutsu!" Kakashi looked up to see three clones falling towards him, and more surrounding him from all angles.

"Fine." Kakashi affirmed to himself as he held them off, poofing them one by one. Kakashi jumped into the air with three clones following him. It was then he moved behind the clones and used wrappings to tie up the clones for his primary lotus attack. Once they were tied up, and tilted them upside down and spun around like a top until they smashed into the ground. As they all poofed, leaving him alone for once, he looked around. "Now where do I find the real one?" Sakura provided a distraction by coming in with a flying kick and missed as her foot connected with the ground, creating a crater. From all around, Naruto clones appeared to surround him not just from multiple angles, but every angle except up or down. They all charged in waves as they shouted in the excitement. However, even though he was vastly out numbered, Kakashi was still able to keep all of them at bay with relative ease. To offset this, Sakura once again hit the ground to disrupt his footwork. Kakashi had to jump up to avoid the cracking ground and found himself in a tight spot. "Now then, what should I do next?" He asked himself.

"Like I'll give you that chance!" Naruto challenged as he had a clone help him create a rasengan. "Rasengan!" He shouted as he shoved it into a tree, obliterating it as Kakashi got out of the way. It was then that he noticed one of the bells fell off, lying on the ground. "Hey, the bells slipped off!" He cheered as he went to grab them.

"Naruto, wait!" Sakura tried to warn, but she was too late as he was snared and hung upside down.

"Huh, falling for the same old tricks." Kakashi commented. Naruto poofed though, catching Kakashi off guard as he was punched in the face by Naruto.

"There's no way I'd fall for a trick like that again!" Kakashi poofed as that one was a clone as well. "Darn it! A substitution jutsu." Naruto growled.

"Why don't you ever listen to me, you idiot?!" Sakura chewed him out. But it was then that Naruto detected four kunai flying straight at him so he jumped, retaliating by throwing kunai where Kakashi was, forcing him to move, though it was right into Sakura's line of punching. Fortunately, Kakashi was able to trap her into a hold and kick her away, which itself turned out to be a clone of her.

("What the? Naruto's shadow clone and transformation.") From above he saw the shadow of the real Sakura coming in for the landing blow. He just barely had time to dodge to the left, and leapt out of her massively powerful punch again unsettling the ground. After a chase, the three soon convened to the stream of the training ground. "Alright. Shinobi battle skill number 3: ninjutsu." With blinding speed in which his hands were blurred, his hands rapidly formed signs too fast to be identified. "Fire style: Fire Ball Jutsu!" He breathed out a fire ball big enough to potentially burn both Naruto and Sakura. They each leapt to the side to avoid it. Once the fire was gone, they noticed Kakashi has disappeared. Naruto felt something grab his ankle as he felt his body sink into the earth rapidly, leaving only his head above ground. Kakashi popped right out in front of him. "Earth style: Headhunter Jutsu." The head poofed though, showing it was a clone. "Another shadow clone." He looked behind him to see his pupils charging at him, and he jumped onto the stream and made more fast hand signs. "Water style: Water Dragon Jutsu!" The water shifted around Kakashi forming into what the teacher just said. However, Naruto wasn't deterred as he clapped his hands together. A fox tail extended from his tail bone and he started glowing red. "I've been waiting for this! Scorch Style: Fox Flame Bomb Jutsu!" Naruto breathed out an extremely bright fox made out of flame intensified by propelled wind flying towards the dragon and upon collision, evaporated the dragon into steam from it's sheer temperature.

(What the?! Scorch style? And is that a tail?") Kakashi asked himself, now becoming visibly worried with the difficulty spike.

"No way! What was that?!" Sakura questioned.

"Oh, that was just me and Kurama working together. While Kurama can't use both fire and wind style simultaneously, my affinity is wind so I provide the wind while he provides the fire. Thus, scorch style." Naruto explained, grinning like he pulled off the master prank. Temari and Yugito looked to each other nodding, each having a hand teaching him hone his elemental ninjutsu. He then looked over to Kakashi. "Hear that Kakashi-sensei?! With the power of me and Kurama's scorch style, we'll burn through whatever you dish out! Even water!" Kakashi mentally groaned to himself before saying.

"I'll admit, you both are giving my sharingan such a workout, and your tailed beast jutsu is quite fearsome Naruto. But don't think that just because you can outnumber me and use a unique style means you're going to get these bells. Although, that doesn't mean I'm not proud with how much you two grown. You actually let myself get carried away."

"Yeah, now let's show you something! Shadow clone jutsu!" 12 clones appeared around Kakashi. All the Naruto's clapped his hands. "Scorch style: Fox Flower Jutsu!" They all expelled over one hundred searing hot foxes charged towards Kakashi. He had no choice to jump up and avoid the epicenter of now a raging inferno over the water.

("No water, earth or fire style. And I don't have anything to substitute with. He's severely limited my options.") Kakashi then noticed from above Sakura was heading towards him from above like before. The teacher then made a few hand signs. "Wind Style: Air Bullet!" He blew out a whole lot of air not at Sakura, but simply to get out of the way of her punch. But instead of heading into the inferno, a flung clone headed toward her, they linked hands, and Naruto threw her at the redirected sharingan user. Unprepared for such a quick recovery, he braced himself when she finally managed to punch him on his blocking arms, sending him careening towards the trees. He literally smashed and bounced off a thick tree branch and recovered by landing feet first on another tree, but he then felt something horribly wrong.

"Leaf village secret finger jutsu…" Naruto cackled with sweet revenge in mind. Kakashi yowled in pain as he shot forward. "1000 years of death!" Kakashi fell to the ground landing on all fours, then massaging his butt.

"My own technique." He moaned as he saw his two pupils walk to him, grinning as they held up two things that caught him further by surprise. Each of them held a bell. "How?"

"I secretly grabbed it while you were busy blocking my attacks." Sakura answered.

"And my tail nabbed it while I stuck it to ya." Naruto gloated. "I put all my power into speed so that I could outpace your sharingan."

"Well, you two have certainly surpassed my expectations. I'm glad to see that you two have grown so much." Kakashi chuckled.

"Naruto!" A cheery voice called out as Fu threw herself at Naruto, kissing him passionately in celebration as they fell to the ground. The remaining jinchuriki family surrounded them.

"Very well done." Gaara simply complimented.

"Yeah, nice work using scorch style. We're so proud to see that our work payed off." Temari commended.

"Indeed." Yugito added with a nod.

"And stripping your teacher of some of his ninjutsu resource. That was smart thinking." Roshi said with a smile.

"Though was the butt thing really necessary?" Utakata questioned, slightly disgusted.

"Hey, with Kakashi, you really gotta think outside of the box." Naruto defended with a chuckle. "And besides, that was payback for the same he did to me."

"Yeah, I guess I deserve it." Kakashi replied with acceptance.

"Well, now that everything is settled here, let's have a celebratory dinner at the estate." Tsunade recommended.

"Alright! Ramen!" Naruto exclaimed.  
\-----------------------------  
A/N: Was that cool, or was that awesome? I knew Kurama didn't have a kekkei genkai, but I wanted to do something special with the fact that he could use both fire and wind style at the same time, so I figured a jinchuriki teamwork combo would do. That would explain my writer's block during the long stretch of nothing new. Leave reviews below.


	7. Old Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naruto connects with his Konoha friends

As Naruto walked back to his apartment with Sakura, his family having to stay at the estate since they're foreign ninja, they were talking about how they're 2.5 years went.

"So, how was your time while I was away Sakura?" He asked. She shrugged.

"Not too much. Me and Ino trained under Lady Tsunade for the most part. I got stronger, duh. And so did Ino but not by much compared to me." She chuckled to herself. "I also went on missions and eventually became a chunin." This really got Naruto's attention.

"Wow, really?! That's great Sakura! What about the others!"

"All of them became chunin." She replied. This sure got his attention.

"Whoa, really?! Everyone?! Even you?!"

"Yep. Neji's even a jonin."

"A jonin! Wow, everybody's gone far, haven't they?!"

"Oh yeah, but most of us probably haven't gotten as far as you. Training under Jiraiya, a new family, and having control of your tailed beast. You even have a kekkai genkai sort of. That pretty much beats all of us in elemental ninjutsu." She complimented. He grinned as he placed his hands behind his head.

"Yeah, I guess I'm still pretty awesome, aren't I?" He chuckled while she sighed.

"Just don't let it get to your head, numbskull." She said, trying to tame his ego.

"Hey Naruto!" They turned to see Konohamaru and his two friends approach them. "Wow, you look a grown up!"

"Yeah, you're not much of a pipsqueak anymore, are you?" Naruto commented.

"You think I've grown?! Check this out! Sexy harem jutsu!" Smoke appeared to obscure him for a second before he became a naked bosom woman, kissing towards Naruto. Sakura recoiled back from shock. He then returned back to normal. "What do you think? Not too bad around the curves department, right?" But to his surprise, Naruto softly laughed.

"Konohamaru, I'm not a kid anymore. You shouldn't be using jutsu like that either. It's beneath you.

("Wow, he's even changed in the inside as well? I kinda miss the old Naruto, but you turned out pretty well, have you?") But unfortunately for her, he then ranted at the kid.

"But come on! Is that the best you can do?! Let me show you how a master does it!" But before he could do so, he was punched in the face by Sakura.

"Are you kidding me?!" She screamed. He bounced twice across the ground before stopping, his face stuck in the ground. She furiously went to his body, dragged it out of the ground and started shaking him. "What the hell is wrong with you, you pervy little doofus?! After two years you still have the nerve to do stunts like that?! Do you have any idea how that makes me feel?!"

Naruto and Sakura finally made it to his apartment, with Naruto holding an ice pack to his swollen, dark purple cheek.

"Well, you're home now. I guess I can take my leave. It's been nice catching up Naruto." Sakura scoffed as she left him in an annoyed huff.

"I need to stop acting like an idiot around Sakura. If I don't, she's going to kill me." He mumbled when he noticed what looks like his key in the doorknob. "Huh, at least I won't have to ask the landlord." He twisted the doorknob and entered into a dark apartment, expecting it to be empty when he was blasted by light and a cheer.

"Welcome back Naruto!" All of Naruto's friends cheered. The group consisted of Shino, Choji, Hinata, whom was carrying a lemon and orange cake while blowing a festive blowout party toy, her brother Neji, Kiba, Rock Lee, Shikamaru, Tenten and Ino. They all gasped when they saw his bruise though.

"Naruto, what happened to your face?!" Lee inquired with exaggerated movements and expressions.

"Think about it." Shikamaru said, about to explain something. "He likely acted like an idiot around Sakura since she was guiding him." Everyone except for Hinata agreed with him and his logic, making Naruto groan.

"Wow, you took quite a shiner." Ino pointed out observing his bruise.

"Will you be able to eat cake Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked with worry.

"I don't know." He replied with hurt in his voice.

"Here, let me heal it for you." Ino shrugged as she took away the ice and poured healing chakra into his bruise, reducing its size and purple color until it was only slightly noticeable with mild discoloration. "There. It might still be sensitive, but you should eat now." Ino concluded while slapping her hands up and down satisfied.

"Thank you Ino. I don't remember you being this friendly." For that, he was kicked in the same cheek by Ino.

"What does that mean, you moron?!" She screeched.

Naruto was back to having a bruised cheek, swollen and purple. It was still partially healed so it still wasn't as bad but the swelling and purple remained. Just not as ugly. Hinata was fork feeding him cake because she didn't want him to overexert himself... or at least that was what she claimed.

"So Naruto, how was it fighting Kakashi? Was it a terrible loss?" Kiba asked, curious. He was scratching Akamaru behind the ears.

"Oh that? We won actually." He replied. That made everyone stop cold.

"You beat him? But how is that possible?" Tenten questioned, becoming part of the conversation. I know you trained under Jiraiya and some others over the years, but Kakashi is so tricky."

"Well, it wasn't easy. I'll admit that. But Sakura and I were able to hold him off, and we didn't allow him time to use genjutsu. When we got to ninjutsu, I was able to use scorch style jutsu, as my affinity is wind style, and Kurama can provide fire style jutsu to combine them into one." Shikamartu's eyes were wide open. He then told everyone,

"A kekkei genkai? But I thought it had to be genetic. Like the Hyuga house or the First Hokage's wood style jutsu."

"I guess nobody thought of just truly combining nature transformations I guess. And I've had a few kekkei genkai teachers. First, Jiraiya, Yugito and Temari taught me how to use basic wind and fire style jutsu, then Gaara and Roshi taught me how to combine my wind style with Kurama's fire style to truly make scorch style happen rather than just blow windy fire."

"That is ingenius." Shino complimented.

"You are truly talented, Naruto-kun." Hinata complimented, so proud in him.

"Hehe, thanks. Say, maybe I can hang out with each one of you separately? Get to reconnect with you guys personally, huh?" Naruto suggested.

"Thanks but no. You all know I'm not that social. Bye." Shino politely declined as he left.

"That sounds great! I volunteer first!" Rock Lee volunteered.

Naruto and Lee were facing each other back at the training ground, just a few hours after the fight with Kakashi happened.

"I would've figured you'd do this, Lee." Naruto chuckled.

"Of course! You know training taijutsu is my number 1 hobby!"

"You tell him Lee!" Guy cheered from a fair distance. "Impress him with the power of youth!"

"Yes Guy-sensei!" Lee cheered back. "Now then, let's get started, don't we?" He challenged, getting into his signature stance.

"Yeah! Bring it Bushy Brows!" And Lee did as he charged and attacked with a left roundhouse that Naruto ducked under, a right undercut that he backed away from and a downward spinning kick that was dodged with a sidestep. Naruto stopped the combo by catching Lee's hand with his own right, and slugged his training partner in the face. When Naruto tried punching him again, Lee caught the attack with his left over the right arms, and jumped to kick away Naruto, both landing on their backs before getting to their feet.

"That was good dodging and countering." Lee complimented.

"Yeah, and that was a nice escape move there." Naruto said.

"Well, let's keep going!" Lee yelled in excitement.

"Yeah!"

Naruto was now with Tenten, spending time by reading tarot cards.

"Huh, I didn't know you had a thing for fortune telling." Naruto commented.

"We never hung out outside of missions." Tenten pointed out. She shuffled them and took out the top three cards to lay them in a row. "These three cards represent the past, present, and future. Now that's not to say this is a telling of a fixed future, but it gives insight about what happened, what is happening, and what will happen."

"Oh. Okay. I thought all future telling was in fortunes."

"Not all of them. Now let's see what you have." Tenten started as she flipped the past card, showing 'The Devil'. "Ah. I believe this has to do with how the nine tails was implanted into you on the day of your birth."

"How did you know that?!" The jinchuriki boy gasped dumbfounded.

"Since you were gone, we were now free to talk about what really happened that day. We all know the truth. The devil card is illusion, greed and temptation. Your personal demons and how you projected them and how you were exposed to them. There could be an evil, dark side of you in your subconscious." She explained. Naruto remembered back to when he was exiled, when Kurama showed him a replica of himself that wanted to destroy everything that he loved. He didn't believe he was low enough to succumb to that, but now he wondered if it was still there. When Naruto explained all that, Tenten pondered on this. "Well, you're certainly justified thinking that. But, you prove to be the better person by not destroying everything. You're dark side isn't the real you. And I believe that your new family has helped you." She said with encouragement. Naruto smiled and wiped away a few small tears.

"Thanks. I needed that."

"You're welcome. Now for the present." Tenten continued. It showed 'The Chariot'. Tenten became suddenly enthusiastic. "Oh, this is a great card. It symbolizes the emotional body. See, this is exactly what I mean. This card can also mean victory through controlling your emotions. It relates to a home, family, emotional protection, a mother, nurturing, caring and nourishment. So, how are you and your new-ish family doing?" She asked looking for details.

"Oh. Well, It's been great. I have four sibling stand ins; Gaara, Temari, Kankuro and Fu. And... while it was never discussed, Fu, Gaara and I are in a so-and-so relationship." This made Tenten's jaw drop.

"You're in a three way relationship?!"

"Sort of. It's not 100% official and stuff like that. It's open minded and we only kiss. Although, Gaara is really preserved so it's only just the three of us alone. It'll be official when we're all completely committed, or dissolve if any of us finds our true love. We were simply testing the field of romance since there was no one else for the time."

"Huh, I never heard of something like that."

"Yeah. It was a surprise to me too. Anyway, Yugito is my replacement mother figure. We have a good nurturing relationship. Utakata and Hotaru are my cousins, though Utakata is a bit distant. Roshi and Han are my uncles, and we have some fun. Especially when we want to combine our unique ninjutsu together."

"That sounds great. Now, let's see what your future is." She said as she flipped the last card, showing 'The Hanged Man'. "Well, this is peculiar."

"What does it mean?"

"It is a very interesting card. It can mean you have to let something go, surrender to your ego, or even turning everything you know upside down. I don't know what this could possibly mean or refer to towards you in particular."

"Huh. I hope nothing bad comes out of it." Naruto said while sweating.

"Well, who knows. As I said, this does not show a fixed future. But more rather what to reflect on." Tenten tried to assure.

"Right. Well, thanks Tenten. It was interesting knowing what you're hobby was." Naruto thanked. She smiled.

"It was my pleasure."

Naruto and Kiba were taking a walk around the border of Konoha with Akamaru in front with them, trying to get an especially elusive butterfly.

"He sure has grown huh? I remember that he could sit on your head." Naruto pointed out, chuckling.

"Yeah, 2 years can do that to any dog if they're a big breed. You've obviously gotten all big and strong to beat Kakashi with Sakura's help."

"Yeah. It was still difficult even though it was just a training session." He admitted. "You know, I actually knew that you were a jinchuriki before we graduated. Not like the rest of us." To his shock, he unfortunately was faced with a greatly irritated Jinchuriki.

"You knew in the Academy?! How did you know when nobody else did?!"

"Hey hey, chill dude!" Kiba defended himself, Akamaru stopping to watch his owner and friend. "I have sharp ears! You think people can whisper and not expect me to hear it? And besides; I didn't care about it then and I don't care about it now! I treated you the way I did was because that's how I am, not because of what was planted in you. Plus, you were a good friend. An idiot but a good friend nonetheless. I believe everybody should've treated you better but back then, but that was me being nice." He lightly slapped the back of Naruto's head before walking off, continuing Akamaru's walk.

"Wow. I never realized that." He jogged to Kiba and apologized, "Sorry about exploding like that. Thanks for... being nice for your standards."

"Eh, like I said; I didn't care. But I accept, and people would explode to news like that." Kiba acknowledged as they continued walking.

"Of all things to do, you want to browse and buy flowers in my family shop?" Ino questioned the jinchuriki boy confused.

"Well, sort of. I was wondering if you could explain to me about the meanings of flowers. I've heard about that but it was never a top priority. Once I find a flower I like, I want to buy it to spruce up my place after all this time." He explained. Ino smiled to his reasoning.

"Well, that's a pretty nice way to put it. Okay, let me show you around." She obliged as she let him view the different flowers. "So, we're skipping roses because they're too popular and about love. They're nice gifts but since they're not going to give them to someone, we might as well go for other flowers. Here are white tulips that symbolize worthiness or forgiveness." Ino stopped as she suddenly remembered days of old. She turned to her customer. "Naruto, I'm sorry for treating you so bad as a kid. You may have been an idiot, but you had such a terrible childhood. I apologize for my unacceptable behavior."

"It's okay Ino. I knew you guys didn't want me to go as well, so I've forgiven you all already. You guys are true friends." The jinchuriki told her. Ino swiped a tear from her eye as she continued.

"These lilies, specifically tiger and regals at the moment, are usually used for anniversaries as they symbolize humility and devotion. Though on occasion they're used for funerals, as they mean that the soul of the departed has received restored innocence after death." Naruto chucked quite good after hearing that. "What's so funny?"

"The thought of Pervy Sage being innocent after his whole life being a womanizer." Though remembering his former sensei again, his face dropped looking depressed again. Not knowing how to share empathy with him, she figured she could at least sympathize with him.

"Sounds like he was likely a good guy when he wasn't hitting on women, huh?" She asked, baiting him to say a good memory they might've shared. He chuckled again.

"Yeah. I actually learned a lot more than I probably could've alone since my adoptive sisters, cousin and mother were there to keep him straight. It was so nice having a father figure and adoptive brothers and uncles. Pretty much every role was filled except for grandparents and an aunt."

"That sounds great, Naruto." Ino supported as she patted his shoulder. She then led him to the next flowers.

"Now these Narcissus flowers, consisting of jonquils, daffodils and paper whites, symbolize new beginnings and rebirth. In my opinion, they're the most positive, non-love based flower I know."

"Wow. That's cool." The jinchuriki commented, smiling in spite of his sorrowful loss and grief. Once she spotted the carnations though, she turned her friend around and hastily hurried him away.

"Yeah, let's avoid carnations. You don't need to know their meaning." Upon seeing the freesias' she sighed. "Oh, I love the freesias. It can mean friendship, trust, thoughtfulness and innocence."

"Wow. Maybe if we made bracelets for each of us made of freesia flowers, that could reaffirm our friendship circle?" Naruto suggested.

"That sounds like a wonderful idea! I need to fit that into my schedule." Ino squealed as she scribbled a note into a notepad.

"Hehe, thanks. Glad I could help." Naruto laughed as he scratched his head.

"Right. So here are gerberas daisies, symbolizing innocence, purity, cheerfulness and joy. I like freesias better. Ooh, Iris flowers. They mean faith, hope, wisdom, courage and admiration. This probably represents you the most excluding wisdom." Ino gushed. Naruto wasn't sure how to respond about the wisdom part, but everything else described him, so he grinned in spite the slight against him.

"Thanks Ino."

"You're welcome. Now let's see. Ehh, despite the beauty, orchids doesn't fit you too much. Hmm, neither do the violets; too much Christianity to them. Well, I don't want to keep you all day, so what will it be? Tulips, lilies, narcissus, freesias, or iris?"

"I know what to go with. Five tulips and five iris's." Naruto ordered.

"Gladly." Ino responded, smiling fondly.

Naruto and Shikamaru were hiding behind a fence, whispering to each other.

"So, what have you been up to?" Naruto asked his best male friend inside Konoha.

"I've been working with Iruka and 5th Hokage to host the Chunin Exams."

"Oh yeah. That sure brings me back." Naruto mumbled remembering the fights, the destruction of the hidden leaf, and Gaara when he was worse than he was now. "How were the last exams then?"

"More traditional. No ambushes or deaths outside of the participants, which were lower than last year as well since Gaara wasn't there. This one should just be as successful. Konohamaru's participating even."

"Really? He's quite skilled, is he?"

"Yeah, you can say that. Ebisu is rather full of himself as a teacher but he has made the runt grow pretty good. Probably good as you or Kiba when you were genin."

"Impressive." From the house they were hiding from, they heard a yell of disgust and sheer surprise.

"Blech! My orange juice tastes like Mac & Cheese!" The two teens suppressed their laughs getting away with another one of their pranks they got away with. However, they seemed to have stayed there too long as they noticed a shadow over the fence.

"YOU FOOLS!" Iruka screamed as he clobbered his fists into the boys' heads to teach them a lesson. "And just as I was getting over my paranoia of pranks when none happened for two years." Iruka turned back to enter his house when he turned back and called,

"It's good seeing you again, Naruto." Hearing that, he smiled to Shikamaru, having such a good time with each of his friends.

As he hung out with each friend, the day passed from morning during training against Kakashi, to afternoon, and finally sunset as he and Hinata were eating at Ichiraku's eating his favorite ramen.

"It's so good seeing you again, Naruto. You've always been our favorite customers." Teuchi told Naruto with familiar care.

"Definitely. Because it's been so long, your two bowls are free." Ayame offered, causing Naruto to grin as big as he could.

"Thank you so much! That's so good especially since I have no money!" He turned to Hinata. "Let's dig in!"

"Dig in!" Hinata repeated as they started eating the ramen at almost the same speed, surprising Naruto as he watched her. Once they finished half a second apart, Naruto laughed. "Wow, you sure got good at slurping ramen." Hinata blushed from his compliment.

"I came here once a week for the past two years. I've had practice."

"That practice paid off then. Nobody else except Choji could compare to me." Thinking of something, he thought of something. "Hey Hinata, could you follow me please?" She blushed super hard at that. Unable to contain herself, she fainted onto the counter.

"Augh! Hinata!"

By time she woke up, she opened her eyes to gaze upon the sunset shimmering in the horizon over the majority of Konoha. Hinata remembered what she was doing before blacking out and realized what she was supposed to be doing. She quickly sat up.

"Naruto-kun?"

"Hinata? You're awake?" She heard his voice from behind the trees to her left.

"Why are you over there?"

"I was worried that if you saw me immediately, you'd faint again." He told her. Hearing that, she blushed and lowered her head.

"I'm sorry Naruto-kun."

"It's okay. I know who you are." He replied, gaining her interest. "I didn't just spend the last two and a half years training. I also thought of you, and the last words we spoke to each other. I reflected on who you were. You were always quiet. You were strong but it was only until the chunin exams that I saw it. You're also smart but you never raised your hand. You were very kind but again it was only until the chunin exams that I noticed. At first it confused me after I actually thought about it when I got my family. I was loud, screaming for attention. I always got into trouble with my pranks. I wanted everybody to pay attention to me. Come to think of it, I may have been the opposite of you, but still had positive traits. I wasn't as strong as Lee or Sasuke, but I fought with all I had. I wasn't as fast as Neji, but I was able to catch up with everyone at some point. I wasn't smart, but I made up for that with my determination." He was about to continue, but Hinata continued for him. From the stutters and hiccups in her voice, it sounded like she was crying.

"And that was what I always really liked about you. Despite your struggles, you were so special in the way you never gave up. You always believed in yourself. You were my role model in who I wanted to be. Do you remember? I adopted your nindo." They spoke together,

"I'm not going to run away or go back on my word." Naruto stepped out of the tree's shadow and Hinata stood up to face him.

"Naruto-kun, there's something I want to say." She uttered with haste, like she was trying to rip a band-aide. He listened patiently until she spilled, "I-I love you! I've loved you since you defended me!" Naruto couldn't believe his ears. Hinata not only liked him from back then, but even loved him. But, what about Fu and Gaara? He would have to talk to them first.

"Hinata... I..." He tried speaking.

"Yes?" She asked, waiting for his answer with the reddest face possible.

"I-" An explosion occurred at the front gate of Konoha, attracting their attention.

"We're under attack! Let's go!" Naruto declared before jumping off. Hinata stayed cursing the timing before following her loved one. When they and the rest of the teams and teachers reached the giant hole in their gate, they found dead ninja surrounding the place as a man in a white loose kimono and a sword stood in the middle, the straight blade stained with blood. In front of the fire was the missing leaf ninja. Once he observed all of his former school mates and spotted Naruto, his voice oozed with utter, hostile hatred.

"Naruto. I've come... to kill you." Sasuke Uchiha proclaimed.


	8. Leaf vs. Snake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naruto vs. Sasuke

"Naruto. I've come... to kill you."

"Sasuke." Naruto uttered.

"You... you were planning to steal my revenge... by fighting the Akatsuki. And that would mean killing Itachi before I could. That just makes me hate you even more." His voice dripped with pure venom. "Even worse, killing Itachi is the only thing that mattered to me, and he's now dead because of your teacher."

"Sasuke. There's something I want to know. Why..." Naruto struggled to speak, his words choking him up. "Why didn't you... If killing your brother was all that mattered why didn't you kill me that day?! Weren't you going to break our bond, Sasuke?!" He yelled.

"The reason is simple." Sasuke spoke, starting to explain. "It's not that I couldn't; it was a strategy of gaining power. On that day, I spared your life on little more than just a whim." Within an instant, he wrapped his arm around Naruto's neck, his sword at an angle where he could puncture the jinchuriki's back if he wanted. "Come to think of it, wasn't it your dream to become Hokage? How have the last two and a half years been? You must've been training all this time... to find me when I showed myself, yes? Or when you've gained enough power? This time, I'll finish what I started." He concluded.

"How can I be Hokage if I can't save one friend?" Naruto rhetorically asked.

"And that's what makes you a fool. Even Kage's can't save everyone." Sasuke sneered as he swung his kusanagi to stab Naruto. Sakura, the closest person to be near them, moved to grab his arm, stopping him from stabbing the jinchuriki. Naruto flipped over Sasuke's arm to counter. "Chidori stream!" Electricity surged as he shocked the two people touching him away. Kakashi revealed his sharingan and took out two kunai to attack, channeling lightning into them. Infusing Kusanagi with lightning as well, the two clashed with their blades, but when Kakashi tried to block the sword, it phased through the weapon, catching Kakashi off guard as he was stabbed in the shoulder, crying out in pain. Sasuke pushed his old teacher back into a rock.

"Kakashi. Still the same as ever. Here's a little thing about my sword.

"Kakashi!" Some of the team members cried out in shock. Kakashi couldn't move because of the electricity flowing into his body. Naruto and Sakura were able to slowly get up, the momentary paralysis wearing off.

"Don't you dare kill him!" Shikamaru demanded, drawing Sasuke's attention. "If you make another move, all of Konoha's ninja will attack at once. I don't care how much you've grown, there's no way you can fight all of us off!"

"Well, I can't have that. You, Shino, the teachers, the Hyuga house. That would be quite bothersome." Sasuke agreed as he flung Kakashi away. "So I'll just eliminate that." Activating his sharingan, he cast everybody under a genjutsu, making them think that they were impaled by stakes, stopping them from moving entirely. The only ones who were able to shake it off almost instantly, or in short time were Sakura, Kakashi, Hinata, Neji, Shino and Kurenai. But during that one sliver of a moment where everybody was hypnotized, he delved into Naruto's mind. He stood before Kurama, gazing upon the caged tailed beast, with Naruto behind him.

"What?" Naruto gasped.

"Sasuke Uchiha. You've advanced well, haven't you?" Kurama questioned the young man.

"How are you even able to be here?" Naruto inquired.

"My eyes can see everything inside a person's mind. So this is your true power. It isn't even your own. I never would've guessed this was inside of you."

"That repugnant sharingan. The power of your cursed clan." Kurama summarized.

"I take it this isn't the first time seeing the sharingan. So you're the nine tails. You are... unnecessary." Sasuke concluded as he cast the tailed beast under a genjutsu as well, rendering it powerless. By now, Naruto and everybody who can counter the sharingan were no longer immobilized, but Naruto felt something was missing. While Sasuke's attention was on Naruto, Kakashi formed hand signs.

"Earth style: Rock Dome Prison!" The ground around Sasuke closed around him, making a dome of rock. But he was able to break out easily. He landed on a building roof and observed whom that were not hypnotized.

"Guys! leave Sasuke to me!" Get the others out of here!" Naruto yelled.

"But Naruto, what if he's too strong?!" Sakura objected, but the jinchuriki wasn't having it.

"The others are still under genjutsu! He could attack them at any moment! Take them away and get out of here!"

"He's right! We need to get those still trapped away. Come on Sakura!" Kakashi ordered as he picked up Ino and Kiba before leaving. Neji and Shino also left to get their friends and teachers away.

"Ugh, Naruto! You better stay alive by the time we get back, you hear?!"

"Yes! Please don't give up! Don't lose! Hinata pleaded as they gathered the last of the stuck ninja and went away, leaving Naruto and Sasuke alone.

"Finally. Now it's just you and me." Sasuke scoffed.

"Sasuke, there's no need to continue down this path of violence. It's an endless wheel that will never stop unless you get off."

"What, and be persecuted if I returned? Punished for doing what I feel is right? Since Itachi died before I could avenge my clan, I have nothing to live for. I don't forgive, because revenge just comes so easily. It's unlikely I'll ever be forgiven for abandoning the leaf either. Missing-nin are killed. Since I'm going to die no matter what, I might as well kill the one person I hate."

"Sasuke, I-" Naruto tried to persuade but Sasuke cut him off.

"I don't want to talk anymore Naruto! Just shut up and fight!" Startled from the fact Sasuke told him to shut up, Naruto sighed as he formed his signature sign.

"Shadow clone jutsu." In an instant, dozens of clones appeared with him in the back. Sasuke began the battle by dashing faster than Naruto could respond and started slashing apart the clones in between them, poofing them to smoke. However, it was then that despite the danger of Sasuke in front of him, he felt a disturbance from behind. thinking fast, he threw from his pouch a flash bomb that shined a brilliant light right in a second Sasuke's face. Momentarily blinding the two, the real Naruto got away from his standing position and created more clones just in case. Now having gotten over how fast he was, The clones ganged up on one of the Uchiha's as the other escaped. The ambushed Sasuke was pin cushioned non-fatally by the many clones surrounding him, degenerating into a mass of dead snakes as a result. ("His substitutes are made of snakes?") Naruto thought in a perplexed tone, unused to how animals can serve as such. As one clone was stabbed by the real Sasuke, one of the others was able to nab it away and he had to outmaneuver the army of Naruto surrounding him from all angles. One by one a clone fell due to his taijutsu being able to strike from any angle that came. Eventually he started charging electricity into his strikes and defenses so that more than one poofed per second. Sasuke was even able to retirive his sword after plowing through enough of them and jumped up into the air.

"Fire Style: Fire Ball Jutsu!" He exhaled a ball of flame over the army, getting rid of a whole bunch. Even then, Naruto clones jumped up and covered him from all sides. On their backs were explosive tags, and after two seconds of mid-air dogpiling, the clone mass exploded, shacking a quarter of the village. Naruto hung back behind more clones as he watched a substitution log flew out of the explosion and land in the field. Sasuke then landed right behind it. He began his charge again. One of the clones transformed into a fuma shuriken.

"Wind Style: Air Blade!" He blew chakra enhanced air onto the weapon and threw it at Sasuke whom dodged the attack. Naruto grinned as he yanked against the invisible string attached to the shuriken, changing its direction. Sasuke saw it coming and used Kusanagi to block the wind enhanced weapon, creating a massive amount of sparks from the spinning impact.

("So he knows wind style and can manipulate shuriken.") From behind he noticed a line of Naruto clones coming towards him with energy balls.

"Rasengan!" They each yelled. Sasuke countered by using his right hand to use chidori sharp spear, piercing any clones 15 feet back. Channeling it from one arm to the other, his lightning enhanced sword helped cut through the fuma, poofing it with a swirl of wind. From behind the smoke came a clone with another rasengan. Sasuke backflipped only to be trapped in between yet another clone that burst right from underneath the ground. "Rasengan!" Finally, they landed a genuine hit as he received two attacks in the middle of his chest and spine between the shoulder blades. Needing to get out, he let the curse mark transform him, growing wings to bat away the clones. Producing chidori in both hands, Sasuke sent electrical senbon in a 360 degree circle to poof any and all nearby clones. He panted as he clutched his chest and winced as he straightened out his back.

"No... not yet." The Uchiha groaned as he reverted back to normal.

"Heh, got you there, didn't I?" Naruto gloated to get to his so-and-so friend.

"You were just lucky. I won't make the same mistake twice." Sasuke rebuked as he set his eyes towards Naruto's and cast a genjutsu on Naruto, his eyes glowing red. Everything went dark as the sky turned black and only the immediate surrounding existed. Naruto looked around, trying to see what happened when he found himself almost crushed in between the fingers of the nine tailed fox. He jumped to get away as he faced a much monstrous form of Kurama, whom roared with extreme hatred and hostility.

"Hey, Kurama! Snap out of it!" Naruto pleaded as Kurama started to fire up a tailed beast bomb. "This can't be real! It isn't!" Naruto denied as he clapped his hands together. A seal appeared on his forehead, and the illusion broke. Unfortunately, even though he was free, he was still stuck as he was binded in snakes coming from Sasuke's sleeves.

"What kind of seal was that? How did it break you free so easily?" The Uchiha questioned. He tightened the grip of the snakes so that he was sure Naruto wouldn't escape.

"Augh! It was a precaution from... Jiraiya-sensei. He says... it'll help break me out... of all but the most powerful of... genjutsu. But only... if I sense it's fake." He sputtered as he couldn't breath very well."

"Impressive foresight, but that won't save you. I'll put you to rest now." Sasuke concluded as the snakes were about to bite into his neck when a slice of wind cut the snakes in between them, freeing the real Naruto. Sasuke looked to see that one of the clones in a post throwing position. As the snakes fell, Naruto leapt at Sasuke and wrestled him to the ground, rolled so that he was on the ground, and pushed his enemy up so that a clone could get a cheap shot. However, the curse mark on his neck elongated to let a snake block the blow, which still blew him back some distance. He then summoned two of his own fuma shuriken, enhanced them with lightning jutsu, and launched them at the real Naruto. Two nearby clones transformed into swords and used them each to block the incoming weapons, creating sparks from both angles. Knowing they won't hold forever, he shouted,

"Wind Style: Blowing Escape!" He took a deep breath and pushed all the wind out of his lungs so hard he pushed himself into the air. Reeling in the two fuma shuriken with string, they went back towards Sasuke to catch and throw again at the airborne Uzumaki. Naruto spread himself out wide to slow down his speed and allow them to miss, but the two split off into four as they were under a shadow clone effect. Using the swords in hand, he precisely bashed away at each fuma so that they didn't slash at him. Sasuke smiled as he tugged at the strings connected to them, causing them to break apart. Unable to react quickly enough, he yowled as a blade punctured his lower back, almost hitting the spine. He fell to the ground with a painful thud as he felt the piece in his back. Seeing his chance, Sasuke weaved hand signs.

"Fire Style: Fire Ball Jutsu!" He breathed out a ball of fire heading right at the fallen Jinchuriki. As soon as he pulled out the cold piece of iron, he leapt up letting a clone come near to create a rasengan while Sasuke also jumped to kill him with a chidori.

"Chidori!"

"Rasengan!" The two screamed as they clashed with their signature physical attacks, the two struggling to overcome the other. When the fire passed by them, the attacks exploded, blowing the two back tumbling across the ground. They both got up at the same time perform more attacks.

"Fire Style: Fire ball Jutsu!"

"Scorch Style: Fox Flame Bomb!" However, when Naruto tried to use scorch style, all that came out was air, shocking the jinchuriki. None the less, the air stream was still strong enough to hold back Sasuke's fire. During the struggle, he tried clapping his hands to summon the power of Kurama, but neither his tail grew nor orange energy surrounded him ("Damn, when he knocked out Kurama, he must've sealed off our power connection! I need to free him!") During the struggle, Sasuke Uchiha's left eye morphed as the three tomoe changed into something different. His eye then went bloodshot and started bleeding as a new jutsu was cast without saying it. On Naruto's side, the wind caught on fire despite the impossibility of said feat. Not only that, it was black fire. Naruto noticed and tried to blow harder to push it, but it kept creeping across his attack heading towards him. When it was just about to overcome him, Naruto let a clone drag him back and take his place as he was consumed by the fire, screaming in unbearable pain until he poofed. Naruto gasped and panted as he saw the black fire evaporate into the air once all the fire and chakra enhanced wind was gone. "What the hell was that?!" He questioned quite terrified.

"That was Amaterasu, one of the powers of the mangekyo sharingan, as you can see. It's the ultimate fire jutsu, as it can consume literally anything, even all of the nature transformations."

"Augh! As if your eyes weren't dangerous enough as is, they can do even more?!" Naruto cried out in despair and horror.

"Yes. There is nothing that the sharingan can't do. And the fact you forced my hand to use it means I'll have to up the stakes." Sasuke concluded as he let the curse mark on his neck transform him again, his skin pigment turning darker, his hair longer and more grey, and the wing hands growing out of his back.

"Ugh! Shadow clone jutsu!" Naruto exclaimed making even more. For good measure, they all began running around in mass randomness, trying to confuse Sasuke. The corrupted Uchiha grunted as he made more signs.

"Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" He spewed out many small flying fire balls, burning through many at once. Even more were poofed when it was revealed that each ball had shuriken inside them to make them even more damaging. What he didn't count on was from the side three Naruto clones started making another jutsu and came from the side. He only acknowledged them when the glow entered his peripheral vision.

"Wind Style: Rasenshuriken!" They yelled as the attack detonated, unleashing a spinning explosion of wind chakra. Sasuke just barely had enough time to get away from it, but his left wing got caught in it and the corrupted Uchiha cried in severe pain as it felt like his wing was subjected to a trillion razors. When he stumbled and fell onto his hands, he looked to see that his wing was gone. Just a shredded stump bleeding.

("Just how powerful is his wind style? That last one seemed like a wind explosion equivalent of Amaterasu. Damn him! Even without that beast he still crippled my movement!") Getting tired of this farce, he created a black chidori and moved towards the army of clones before extending it to it's maximum length, and swiping it like a bladed spear as it got rid a good bunch of them. Upon seeing what sees as the true Naruto since he was still holding his transformed swords, he cast a genjutsu where in Naruto's mind, he got impaled to the ground by giant stakes. That seal may break him out once he gets past the pain, but all the other clones who saw his eyes froze up to as he took the initiative to shove his chidori spear right through his heart and came up to his former friend. "You're done."

"Not... yet." He said before poofing, revealing he was just a clone. Sasuke was unprepared for when the swords transformed back into clones and took hold of his arms, and a few recovered ones to grapple with the remaining wing. Naruto stepped up to the Uchiha with his eyes closed and smirked.

"Never underestimate me Sasuke." He gloated.

"I would say the same." Uchiha forewarned as his stump suddenly grew snakes to counter the pile and bit into everybody that held him down, including the one right in front of him being a smartass, gaining freedom. Sasuke groaned as he dropped to his knees and was noticing his vision blurring. ("Damn it. Where is he? While I'm sure maintaining this many clones and using so much wind jutsu should tire him out, my stamina's running out as well. I don't know how much chidori or Amaterasu I can pull off.") Sensing more clones about to dogpile him, he jumped up and used his snakes to crush them all. He spotted his kusanagi he dropped sometime earlier and glided towards it. Once he grabbed hold of it, he set it on fire with his Amaterasu, and swiped to attack. "Inferno style: Flame Control!" The black flame left his sword to sweep across the field, killing nearly all the clones and set fire to everything within his line of sight. He then stabbed his sword into the ground and shot fire straight up into the air. "Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu!" In multiple successions he shot five dragon flames into the sky, influencing the sky. Naruto stepped out of the shadows, his clothes still bloodied from that one wound in his back and staggering from using such a large amount of chakra, but he was able to stay standing. Sasuke's back faced Naruto.

"Huh. I wonder what you were trying to do there? Just wasting chakra? From the looks of it, you're pretty worn out. Good thing for me, because I've run out of chakra for clones and wind. I still have enough to beat your ass." Naruto boasted before coughing, his stamina running dangerously low. From above them, the sky filled with thunderclouds and it started to rain nearly instantly.

"You're right. I am on my last legs. But as long as I can keep this form up, that means I'm still likely to kill you." Sasuke countered. He then chuckled. "However, I always have a trick up my sleeve. Here is my ultimate ninjutsu." The corrutped Uchiha stood up and raised a hand. Naruto felt a disturbance in the air as he looked up as the thunder and lightning in the sky was becoming more frequent and intense. Without looking, Sasuke said with a sense of finality, "This jutsu is called Kirin." With that, a dragon made of natural lightning appeared, freaking Naruto out despite his composure. "With the sound of the thunderclap..." He lowered his hand." "...Begone." The dragon struck, hitting Naruto and destroyed everything.

Or at least... that's what it would be if something haven't prevented it, likely wiping out a quarter or half of the village. But no, something kept it from spreading out beyond about a 50 meter radius.

"No, that's impossible." Sasuke gasped as he saw not only a pile of Naruto clones filling part of the 120 meter crater, but he looked drastically different. His color tone was now neon yellow and black, and he glowed like a nightlight.

"Wow, what an insanely powerful attack. That even put a big dent in Kurama's reserves, summoning so many clones so fast to soften almost all the power." Naruto chuckled, stepping out of the crater.

"What are you? What in the hell are?!" Sasuke screamed as his foe managed to survive even that.

"I'm your friend; Naruto Uzumaki. The jinchuriki of the nine tailed fox. It took a while but I was able to break Kurama from the sealing genjutsu you did once you transformed. But we did it and not only that, I thought that since you have a second party power source, it would only be fair if I used mine. We even thought it'd be best to use that frog scroll thing Jiraiya-sensei gave me one year ago to unlock the gate, so that we can now fully cooperate 100%." Hearing that not only Naruto survived, but even regained his jinchuriki powers to become even more powerful, Sasuke's psyche broke down as he chuckled before starting to laughing, which soon devolved into crazy cackling. He brought out a few pills from his pouch and ate them after crunching them in his teeth a few seconds. His body immediately spasmed as he could feel the pills replenish his chakra pool. Not completely, but he was no longer exhausted, or at least felt like it. Naruto gazed in apprehension as he and his remaining clones from the kirin attack prepared themselves. One clone had a rasengan readied for him as he took the first charge, ready to deliver another beat down when as he was just about to connect, a purple ribcage large enough to house Sasuke in it, barely making a dent in the chakra bones.

"Tobi mentioned something to me, about one of the most useful abilities of the mangekyo sharingan." Sasuke told Naruto as the ribcage grew an arm of chakra made bone and grabbed the shocked clone. "The Susanoo." The bony hand crushed the clone making it poof. After that, the bones started to grow what looked like muscle strands and flesh, along with a head that had yellow glowing eyes. Upon looking at the real Naruto, his left eye bled even more. "Amaterasu!" Sensing the incoming attack, a clone shoved him out of the way so he would be burned instead, screaming before poofing. Seeing that using the move while standing was pointless, Sasuke went on the attack, running towards the Uzumaki army with his Susanoo preparing a punch. All of them jumped out of the way in fright as the Susanoo punched the epicenter of the crater, greatly cracking it. From multiple angles they attacked with kunai, transformed swords and rasengans, but they all failed to get past the armor. A surge of chakra poofed every clone on it. Despite the clones overall being faster than the chakra armor, it's horrifying presence and wide range ensured that any attack it made poofed clones and destroyed nearby buildings to shower them with large rocks, poofing even more.

"Alright, if normal ninjutsu won't do the job, how about this?!" Naruto proclaimed as he clapped his hands. "Scorch Style: Fox Flame Bomb!" This time he was successful as he produced a fox made of fire burning quite fearsomely from the wind infused with it as it charged and rammed into the Susanoo as it tried blocking with its arms. While the bones stayed intact, the scorching fire was so intense it was burning away the chakra flesh, weakening the armor. Sasuke grunted as he cast Amaterasu on the real Naruto through the flame, finally getting him. What he didn't count on however was Naruto, while gaining damage from said attack, started growing a layer of chakra and shedding it off like a snake skin, leaving that to let the Amaterasu burn it. "That won't work this time! I figured out a way around your ultimate fire jutsu!" Naruto called out, irritating the corrupted Uhicha even more. Naruto made some signs. "Wind Style: Gale Force Cover!" From his mouth he blew across the crater unsettling the dust in it obscuring everything. "Wind Style: Hurricane Shuriken!" From out of the dust a green colored fuma shuriken managed to lodge itself into the Susanoo armor, nearly reaching Sasuke but not quite. Now knowing where Naruto was, he outstretched a hand that took hold of the real one and held him in a way that he was going to use the lodged in fuma.

"You shouldn't have used that." Sasuke sneered as he was about to impale Naruto against his own fuma when Naruto broke out by extending nine tails instantly, breaking the armor's grip and landing on the fuma. He took it out and infused it with wind chakra before throwing it at its right elbow joint, cutting the arm off. Sasuke let the Susanoo glide back as he tried growing the severed arm back.

"Well, seems like I can still fight off your Susanoo!" Naruto called out. "Power up all you want; I'll just keep thinking up ways to out fox you!"

"Don't you see? The longer I use Susanoo, the more powerful it becomes and offense and defense." Sasuke said as not only the bones of the arm grew back, and not just the muscles and flesh covered the bones, but it even grew chakra cloth around itself so that it was now half complete. And even then, it now sported a half circle shield and a bow. He created an arrow with the bow and shield, and fired. Naruto only had enough to duck, with the arrow cutting off three of his nine tails. He gasped in surprising pain, not expecting it to hurt so badly. Sasuke formed another arrow and fired quite quickly, leaving Naruto no time to dodge. He used his six remaining tails and hands to keep it from puncturing his body, but he was pushed back all the way through one of Konoha's border walls, exploding. Naruto tumbled back as he lost all of his chakra tails and his hands were badly burnt black. He stopped once he hit a tree. While recovering, another arrow came right at him. As he was recovering, he only had enough strength to flatten himself against the ground to make the attack miss, going right through the trees. Sasuke and his Susanoo slipped right through the hole of the wall, observing the jinchuriki. Sasuke was panting, his stamina from the pills beginning to wear off. He was even beginning to start coughing blood from such a taxing duration of his jutsu. Even his Susanoo started to come undone it degraded back into a skeleton. With one final strike, he used a boney arm to try to crush Naruto, but he's had enough time to recover as he jumped over the crushing fist and climbed up the arm. He grew two more tails as he came upon the armor's skull and used the tails to pry open the jaw. He dived right in heading for Sasuke. The corrupted Sasuke threw his sword straight up at the jinchuriki, but one of his tails grabbed the hilt before he could be pierced. Naruto used kusanagi to cut off the snakes of his damaged wing, but Sasuke used his taijutsu to kick the sword out of the tail and grabbed it. In that one next instant, they both attacked.

The Susanoo diminished into nothing. Naruto and Sasuke's super powered forms finally wore off, both of them looking human. And in their guts, were respectively their weapons of the moment; the kusanagi and a tangible orange fox tail. The only one Naruto could sustain now. They both panted as they could feel their respective powers plummeting like boulders. They back away letting their weapons exit their bodies and fell to the ground to each let themselves crawl away.

("How much more can I do? I've exhausted almost all of my chakra. Given that he gave up his form too, he must be as weak as I am.") Sasuke thought to himself.

("Ugh, that sword really messed me up.") Naruto complained in his head.

("Naruto, I only have enough in me for one more jutsu. You better use it wisely.") Kurama advised. Sasuke got out one more pill he had in his bag, and ate it, crunching before swallowing. He could feel some his power being replenished, but he threw up lots of blood as his body was being pushed beyond its limit. He really struggled to stand up, and focused what was left of the curse mark into his hand, creating a black chidori. Naruto made three more clones as he created the rasengan, one formed the shape, one poured wind style into it, and one poured fire style into it, creating a sun in his hand. They stood there barely being able to stand, letting the seconds pass before they turned and attacked one last time.

"Black Chidori!"

"Scorch Style: Burning Rasengan!" Cursed lightning and windy fire collided as they pushed with all they had remaining, using sheer force alone to not give up on either side. And for about a minute, they kept on even footing. But as time passed, Sasuke's less stable strength waned, and that let the rasengan burn through the chidori, and disintegrate the Uchiha's left arm, finally defeating him. Once all the action was over, Naruto couldn't take it anymore and fell onto his face, unconscious from overexertion and accumulated damage. Sasuke dropped one knee and planted his sword into the ground so that he too did not collapse. His entire body ached and burned. With mind was beyond dizzy, he felt nauseous, he could barely breath, he was entirely blind in his left eye, and it felt like his heart was about to give out. He looked towards Naruto's body. If he could use Amaterasu just one more time, then they both would die. That would still be a win for him. He tried focusing, squeezing whatever he had left. Unfortunately, he his eye forced shut just when he cast it, setting his eyelid on fire with Amaterasu. But at this point, he was too beaten to near death to care of the pain anymore. He let himself fall to the ground, and breathed out one more sentence before his brain was destroyed.

"Naruto... take care of them."


	9. Funeral

Naruto opened his eyes groggily, finally coming to consciousness. He could feel the light of dawn begin to shine against his eyes and heard the birds chirping outside the window of the room. He tried sitting up but groaned as he fell back into his bed. He heard someone from his side. Huh, Deja vu.

"Huh? N-Naruto, you're awake!" Sakura exclaimed as she came into his viewpoint and gave him a hug, causing him to groan in pain. She let go. "Oh, sorry."

"It's okay. Hopefully waking up in this situation doesn't become a regular thing." The jinchuriki chuckled. "So, why am I in the infirmary this time?"

"Pure exhaustion. You've nearly drained yourself of all your chakra. Getting a sword through your stomach didn't help either." The medical-nin explained. That made Naruto jolt right up despite his sore muscles.

"Sasuke! Sakura, where is Sasuke?!" He frantically asked him former squad mate. Her face looked down and went all sad. In fact, he just realized that she didn't look so good. Her skin lost some of its color, somewhat pale. She had bags under her eyes, and her cheeks were stained with dry tears, now becoming wet again. Even her hair was suffering as it seemed limp and messy, barely presentable in a professional workplace. "Sakura, what happened to you?"

"Naruto... he's gone."

"What, he ran off again? He just returned and I beat him!" The former ninja complained.

"No. He didn't run off again. He's... dead." That caused something shatter in Naruto's mind, in the deepest recess in there.

"Dead?" He breathed out, unable to speak to strongly. "No. No. I couldn't have killed him. I countered his chidori with a rasengan and... I-I can't remember. How... how long was I out?"

"Eight days. A little over a week. When we sure the battle has ended, we tried to find you both. You were almost out of juice and severely injured but nothing mortal. But Sasuke... the only thing we could find was his sword, and a burnt shape of a body in the ground behind you, missing a left arm." Sakura explained. This brought up a memory just before he blacked out. He remembered destroying that arm. "From the looks of it, we assume that he committed suicide and lit himself on fire once he was too hurt to do much damage anymore. Though I'm not sure what fire could only leave a body shaped burn mark in the ground." The kunoichi wiped away her tears, having to relieve that day.

"The Amaterasu." Naturo mumbled to himself.

What?" Sakura asked him.

"Amaterasu. Sasuke said it was an ability of his evolved sharingan. It's a fire jutsu that can burn anything. And I mean anything. He must've used it on himself." Realizing something, he got off of his bed, struggling.

"Naruto, don't do anything stupid." She warned, but the medical-nin was dumbfounded when he dropped down onto his hands and knees, maybe a bit too roughly since his head slammed into the floor.

"Sakura, I'm so, so sorry. I failed my promise to bring Sasuke back. I failed you, the both of us, everyone here. I couldn't keep my word. I'm such a disgrace full of shame." She couldn't see it, but she could hear him struggling to contain his sobbing. Her eyes started to water as she knelt down from her chair and raised his head so that she saw the most miserable, depressed face she ever saw. Gushing tears, snot running down his face, his mouth quivering almost violently from his crying; he just looked broken. She hugged him as her face was starting to mirror his.

"I-It's ok-kay Naruto. It-It's not y-your fault. I forgive y-you." She whimpered as they just stayed there, crying that their former friend was gone forever, permanently no longer the Squad 7 they could be now. When they eventually got it all out of their system, the two friends were able to get up to their feet, Sakura especially helping Naruto up. "Can you walk?"

"Against a wall perhaps. I still feel so sore and weak." He answered.

"Let me get you some crutches. Stay on your bed until I get them for you." The medical-nin ordered as she exited the room. Naruto just sat down on his bed and fell onto his back, going through his memories of the late Uchiha whom was secretly his best friend, because they had very similar beginnings, even with very different personalities. Sakura eventually came back and handed him to crutches so that he didn't fall down.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome. I'll lead you to your family." Sakura offered as she and Naruto left the room to find the other jinchuriki.  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
"I can't wait to speak to Naruto again. This week has been so boooooring being stuck here." Fu said, ready for anything new to happen. Among the family was Hinata, conversating with the sand siblings and Tsunade conversating with Shizune about today's business while making sure the jinchuriki weren't spotted. They were outside in the back.

"Indeed. But it's been worth it since each of us looked over him, along with his friends here. And now, he's finally awake." Yugito added, her face wearing a smile for the first time since that fight.

"I wish we could explore though. As if being stuck in a hidden village was bad enough, being stuck in this building is driving me stir crazy." Utakata complained, blowing bubbles that seemed to pop rather aggressively portraying his emotion.

"Just be glad its Naruto's hidden village. I don't want to think if he had to go to the stone or mist village for help." Roshi stated, reminding him that its not all bad. The door opened up, Sakura coming out with Naruto following close behind.

"Naruto!" Most of them said at various volume. Hinata and Fu were the ones who approached him first, along with the sand siblings.

"Naruto, are you okay?" Fu questioned him worryingly.

"He's okay. The worst he's suffering is lingering fatigue and soreness. I'm sure he'll be good as new in a few hours at least, or tomorrow at the latest.

"That's good. You're real tough with what that Uchiha fellow did to you." Kankuro complimented the orange clad teen.

"Kankuro, you're better." Naruto noticed, smiling from relief.

"My body, yes. I'm all healed up. But my puppets are lost. I'm not useless but either I'll have to build one from scratch, or return to the hidden sand to rebuild what I had. But something that's also good is that Hotaru is doing well. She's still bed ridden but she should be good enough by dinner."

"Alright. That's good I suppose." Naruto nodded. He turned to Hinata. "Hinata, how's everybody else?"

"Oh, uhhh... everybody's good. Nobody was injured." She answered him, mumbling a bit.

"I wish we could've talked more last week." Naruto said.

"Yeah, I wish so too. Maybe... we can do more later?" She asked, her blush returning. Naruto chuckled.

"Yeah, that sounds good." Hinata blushed more and lightly grinned to that.

"Alright, that's enough formalities." Tsunade called out, drawing attention. "I've put this off long enough for Naruto's sake, but now that he's awake, we need to get down to business." She surveyed them for a few seconds before declaring, "We need to arrange what to do with all you jinchuriki. You've stayed for the sake of wounded, but now that you're all good enough to walk and defend yourself, it would be too risky to keep you all here. You know what would happen if the other villages found out we had seven jinchuriki here? A war unlike any other."

"We could split up, you know? Maybe reduce the risk? I don't want to leave yet. Just a few more days?"

"Perhaps. You have today to plan. I'll be back in my office. Meet with me in my office when you're ready." Tsunade allowed as she and Shizune went back into the estate.

"So, what do we do now?" Han questioned.

"Well, who has a reason to go anywhere? Any reason." Yugito asked them all.

"I would make a higher quality puppet back at our village." Kankuro replied.

"I don't like staying in villages." Utakata complained. After thinking about it, Naruto suggested,

"Maybe one group goes to the sand village, and the other goes to Kemono and rebuild. Despite losing everything we had there, it can still be our home."

"It is your ancestral grounds after all. If anything, you should have say on what we could do, if not me or the Hokage." Yugito said.

"Well, you can say your opinion as well, since you're our Kage. I want to hear what you want to say first." Naruto passed over.

"Okay. Up to me, I wouldn't want kankuro and you guys going to the sand village. I don't know if you're missing-nin or not. Likely I would guess."

"They know we're the previous kage's children. Even if we're officially missing-nin, they'll know not to mess with us. They'll attempt to be diplomatic, at least if at first." Gaara pointed out.

"What do you think Naruto? Do you think they should do?" Yugito asked Naruto.

"I don't want Kankuro to go through the pain of making a puppet entirely from scratch. If they can go, they should be able to handle themselves. It might help if you went along with them Yugito. A second jinchuriki would be great."

"Thanks Naruto." Kankuro nodded with a half smile.

"If that's what you believe, then I'll go with them. I can turn turn any sand they dish out into glass." Yugito proclaimed.

"As for our home, Utakata and Hotaru can go back to Kemono. Roshi and Han can go there to reconstruct our home."

"I don't have an objection to that." Roshi shrugged. Han nodded in agreement.

"So it'll just be Naruto and I here?" Fu asked.

"It appears so." Yugito replied. "Alright, we got ourselves a plan. I'll inform the Hokage what we're doing." She said before going back into the estate.

"So Naruto, what are you going to do now?" Sakura inquired. Naruto looked down looking glum all of the sudden when he said,

"A funeral... for Sasuke."

"Sasuke, the same guy who tried to kill you?" Kankuro remarked, raising an eyebrow.

"He was a fellow squad mate. He was my friend. He was simply lost in the dark was all. He just wanted to avenge his clan." Naruto defended.

"How would we do it?" Sakura asked her friend. "There isn't a body to bury."

"I just want to give him some final respects, is all. We shouldn't just treat his death like an afterthought."

"That sounds nice." Hinata said.

"Well, how many people do you want there?" Sakura asked.

"Just you, me and Kakashi-sensei. People that got to really know him."

"Alright. I'll tell Kakashi." The kunoichi stated before jumping off.

"Fu, Gaara, I need to talk with you two alone. Something important." Naruto requested of the two.

"Alright. Just give me a minute." Garra accepted.

"Yeah, me too. I need to use the ladies room."

Away from the group, the three youngest jinchuriki were in a separate room.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Garra questioned Naruto.

"Yeah, is something wrong?" Fu added.

"Hinata... she told me that she loved me." He answered. Garra didn't react but this surprised Fu.

"What? How does she love you? From what I know you had friends but not much interaction."

"I defended her from bullies when we were really young. I guess that left an impact and she followed me around behind corners watching my life, and fell in love with me. I'm actually not creeped out or anything since I've been alone most of my childhood and wanted attention. Looks like I was getting it without even realizing."

"So, what do we do now?" The sand jinchuriki asked, curious on what to do.

"I think this is our make or break. To decide if this thing we have together solidifies what we have." Fu initiated.

"How would it work?"

"Simple. We each go on separate dates with each other. Feel the chemistry. If it all goes well, we stay together. In not, the outcome is obvious. And if we're together, we need to talk to Hinata on how we think of her on a personal level." The kunoichi explained.

"Okay, who goes first?" The orange clad teen asked, shrugging.

"We go like this. I'll go with Gaara first, then he goes with you, then you go with me to finalize it." She affirmed.  
\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Fu and Gaara were walking near the Konoha training grounds in the early afternoon. Not near enough to be spotted by any potentially training ninja team, but still close enough to be in the forestry.

"Ah. It ain't quite as beautiful as Takigakure, but the wildlife here is still beautiful." Fu sighed in content as she spun around while walking, spreading her arms out.

"Yes. It's certainly eye pleasing unlike most of the Wind Country." Gaara approved. She turned to face her first date.

"So Gaara, tell me something about yourself you never mentioned." Fu probed, asking open minded questions and statements.

"I enjoy the hobby of tending to cactus." "He answered.

"Ooo. Is that because you were in the dessert?"

"It helped, but I also saw cacti as a visualization of my early life." "Fu tilted her head in confusion. "You know about my early life in general. A life filled with hate. Trying to assure I existed. It's almost exactly like Naruto. What you don't know is this. I truly became bitter and hateful of the world when my uncle tried to kill me, per orders of my father. He said that he didn't love me, even when earlier he said he did. He also said my mother never loved me, and my name meant 'self-loving carnage'. He blew himself up trying to kill me but my sand defended me. Because of that moment, I scared myself with the same kanji you see on my forehead everyday. From then on I only cared about myself until the day I met Naruto. You know the rest." He opened his eyes, seeing a crying kunoichi.

"Oh my god. That sounds so horrible." She said as she went to hug the sand ninja. "I'm so sorry you had such a bad childhood. I know you don't like hugs, but they can help." Gaara just stood there embraced by her arms, feeling uncomfortable, but this time, he didn't mind so much. He closed his eyes and hugged her back.

"Thank you." After about a minute he did cough though. Fu got the hint as she opened her eyes and stepped back.

"Right, well... I guess it's my turn. Something I never shared is... my hair isn't it's natural color."

"Huh?" Gaara asked, somewhat stumped.

"Oh come on, you really think I have mint colored hair? It's black, but I wanted to stand out more."

"How... interesting."  
\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Next up in the late afternoon was Naruto and Gaara whom were strolling across not quite at the edge but certainly near the edge of the top of the Hokage Rock. They walked side by side, but their looks had nothing but uncertainty to it. Sure, they dabbled while Fu was around, motivating them to be front-forward with their feelings. But the two of them alone, that was rare. Gaara appreciated his space and Naruto could respect that, given his hyperactive personality clashing with an emotionally stunted guy even with the growth and recovery he had the past three years. Eventually, they had to say something.

"So... what are you thinking about?" Naruto initiated.

"The ninja world. There was quite a bit of diversity as we travelled through the countries. Earth pillars, lakes and waterfalls, mountains, and islands. We never stopped to truly appreciate it, but seeing the world reminded me of how mysterious the rest of the world is, but beautiful. In my village, there's rarely any clouds. Just a wide open blue sky. And because we don't use a lot of electricity, the nights are full of stars. Life in the desert isn't visually interesting, but that gave me the skill of detecting the tiniest details of what I see. That's what allows me to see the beauty in things, even if I don't typically express it."

"So what would be the greatest thing you saw?"

"You." He answered.

"Me?" Naruto returned, blinking in surprise.

"At least what makes you, you. You're not that particularly attractive to me." He said bluntly. Naruto sweated at that. "But the person you are is what's beautiful. You've persevered beyond what most people go through. You remained loyal to the leaf and your friends even though most abandoned you. While you couldn't influence them all, you've established a positive relationship with all the jinchuriki, and even two kage. You are an inspiration to us all."

"Hehe, I wouldn't say that." Naruto chuckled.

"Then why would any of us have followed you? You were only 13 and yet you managed to bring seven out of nine jinchuriki together, and the other two are on good terms with you. Face it, whatever it was that shaped you, you're the kind of person people want to follow."

"So... what do you think of me? In a... romantic sense?

"I don't know. But you are more trustworthy than anybody in the sand village, so I'm willing to give this a shot." He said. Naruto smiled.

"Yeah, me too.  
\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Naruto and Fu came up to Naruto's old home at around sunset, giving the place a welcoming orange glow.

"You lived here?"

"Yeah. I'll the way up to being kicked out. They must've rented the place when I came here last week. Sakura even gave me the key and told me Granny is paying my bills for this month. Just this month though."

"That's nice of your friends and the Hokage." She beamed. Naruto chuckled. He took the key and unlocked the door and they entered, seeing the the room in a state of cleanliness.

"How cozy." Fu commented.

"Yeah, but give it a week or two and it'll look just like how I've lived for years. It's only clean if I don't live in here. It's not much, but I certainly call it a home for me." Naruto looked in the fridge and saw two last slices of cake. "Sorry I don't have anything else. We do have cake though." Naruto offered a slice.

"Oooh yummy, cake!" She took it and munched on the cold treat. "Hmm, a little stale, but still sweet."

"Hehe, one time I drank a whole carton of expired milk without realizing, and I had to go practically every hour after that." Naruto laughed.

"Oh my god. That's so gross!" Fu burst out in laughter, cake flying out of her mouth and stamping her feet.

"Yeah, not my best day." Naruto half chuckled, half groaned from a hint of embarrassment. Continuing to eat her cake, she asked him,

"So Naruto, tell me, what do you think of me? Like really think of me?"

"Well, you're certainly a fun, spirited girl. Comparing to experience, you're nicer than Sakura, you're more friendly than Ino, and much more confident than Hinata, though that's probably just me remembering her before I was exiled. We agreed to hang out more. But back to what I was saying, you're a great person to be around. I'd love if we got together along with Gaara." He explained. She smiled.

"Yeah, you're just my kind of guy as well. We'd make a good couple. Or a polyamory relationship in this case."

"Gaara isn't sure about me personally, but he likes me enough to give it a shot." Naruto shrugged.

"That's good." She said before taking another bite of cake. Setting it aside, she walked up to her comrade and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Now that sounds sweet, foxy boy." She giggled before kissing him. The male jinchuriki returned it with passion as he placed his hands on her hips. When they separated, Fu sighed contently. "Well, I think I know what happens next."  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------  
Twilight, and the three were together again at the estate, in one of the guest rooms.

"So, we'll do it like this. We look at one another, and we say yes or no. Agreed?" The two boys nodded to her suggestion. "Okay, I'll go." Looking to Gaara first. "Yes." Turned to Naruto. "Yes."

"Yes." Gaara said before gazing upon Naruto. "Yes."

"Yes." Naruto returned towards Gaara before finalizing as he looked at Fu. "Yes."

"Then it's settled. We are now in an official relationship. We don't need to tell a lot of people. Just who we can trust that won't say anything." The teenage girl confirmed. The three jinchuriki nodded as they each fist-bumped each other. "Now then, tomorrow, we talk about Hinata. For now though, Naruto has a funeral to attend." Naruto frowned and looked down.

"Yeah, it is around that time. We'll talk later, okay?" He asked solemnly.

"Of course. I'll always be there for you." Fu confirmed.

"Agreed." Gaara nodded. Naruto half-smiled.

"Thanks guys." He uttered before giving both of them a hug with stretched arms, feeling an arm touch his back in return. The three then exited the room where Sakura and Kakashi were waiting.

"Ready?" The pink haired kunoichi asked.

"Yeah, I am." Naruto said.

"Then let's get started." Kakashi softly ordered. The remaining Squad 7 members exited the estate at midnight, and went to the training grounds where relatively near the three short poles and the memorial stone, was another memorial stone, only in the shape of the Uchiha Clan symbol, and engraved on the front was one name. Sasuke Uchiha.

"Who should go first?" The lone female asked.

"Probably the guy who suggested this whole thing." Kakashi replied.

"Sure, I don't mind." The jinchuriki sighed as he took a step forward. "Sasuke... he obviously had flaws. He had no one positive to be his center. He... tried to kill me or... sacrifice himself to avenge his clan." He began the testimony, not having really rehearsed. We... could done better... to show him the love he needed. As squad mates. as comrades. As friends. He... probably died on the inside... because his brother broke his mind." Kakashi closed his eye while Sakura tried holding in her sobs. "Even if he never laughed, not like us... I wished he could've cried. Because then... at least we would know what was truly going on. As kids, we fought a lot. We had our pride to protect. I... was jealous of how cool he is. He used to piss me off with his attitude, but... he eventually became my best friend... because of what we went through together. We may not have acted like it, but he truly was my friend. Tears strolled down Sakura's eyes while she wiped them away from her eyes. Kakashi placed a hand on her shoulder. "Sasuke... if you still hate me even there... please forgive everybody else. I'll take the brunt... so that the others don't feel lingering guilt for how they didn't try to know you. Kurama, if you could please?"

"Very well." The tailed beast obliged as Naruto spat out an ember which was caught by a tiny yellow chakra hand that extended from his held up right index finger and tossed it to the ground where it lightly combusted into a small, pretty flame as it hit a couple of leaves.

"Sasuke... I hope you can find peace. Believe it." Sakura couldn't take it anymore as she collapsed onto her knees sobbing.

"Well I guess she won't be saying anything soon. I'll go next." Kakashi groaned. Naruto stepped back and the teacher stepped forth.

"At first, I thought he was a hot headed idiot. Good in battle, but way too independent and arrogant. But then I got to see some potential in him to grow not as a ninja or student, but a person. I actually cared about him a bit. I tried helping, but I guess it wasn't enough. Sasuke... I'm sorry." He bowed his head before turning to his crying pupil. "Think you can speak?" She violently shook her head, unable to speak. The men looked at each other, nodded, and Naruto helped Sakura up to her feet as they went back to their homes.  
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A/N: This took a while. Longer than expected. But I wanted this to be good quality. Or at least an attempt at it. Let me know in the reviews below.


	10. Mt. Myoboku

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The training begins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Well, here we are. As far as I know, this story has maybe three to five chapters left. I hope it's only three or four since I'll have to really put my creative muscles to the test to be good. Since I'm taking a break from Ash Platinum, I'm going to try to finish this story, so updates will become semi-frequent from now on. Sorry if this chapter seems far-fetched. If someone criticizes, I wouldn't have a reason or justification this time. It's just the flow since I'm having writer's block.

It was about dawn with the sun just barely shining over the horizon, and all of the jinchuriki have gathered at the absolute back of Konoha, where they believed nobody else whom didn't know about them was there. Away from the main group, Naruto, Fu and Gaara were having one last conversation before splitting up. Fu was once again starting the conversation.

"So, Naruto. What can you tell us about Hinata? Remind us what she's like again?"

"Well, after interacting with her, Hinata seems more confident in herself, but she's still as shy as I remember her. As far as I know, she doesn't have a mean bone in her body. It's like of my friends, Hinata's the most pure person that I know." Naruto explained as best as he could. Fu nodded in acknowledgement.

"Okay. She sounds like someone I could be in a foursome relationship with. What do you think, Gaara?"

"I don't mind. Even though including someone else in our group feels strange to me, she doesn't sound like the type of person I would be uncomfortable with."

"Alright then. That's a yes from us. Naruto, what do you think?" She asked curiously.

"Well, I think before I choose something like that I'd have to hang out with her more. Know her more as a person, you know?" He explained, uncertain of the whole thing.

"We understand. Take as much time as you need. I'll be going out with my siblings and Yugito now.

"Okay. Take care." Fu nodded with a smile.

"Yeah, we'll see you soon." Naruto added as they each kissed goodbye before heading back to the main group.

"Is it time yet?" Gaara asked his siblings.

"Yeah, we're ready to head out." Kankuro answered. "It'll be nice heading home if they don't try to kill us first."

"Let them try." Gaara boasted.

"See you later Naruto." Yugito said as she ruffled Naruto's hair.

"Yeah, we'll be back before you know it." Temari remarked as she softly slapped Naruto's back. He chuckled,

"Hehe, thanks guys." With that, the sand siblings and Yugito walked off to go to Sunagakure. He and Fu then approached those going back to Kemonogakure.

"So, are you guys ready?" The orange clad jinchuriki inquired. Roshi answered,

"Yes. Not only do we have everything we need, a few of your own have even been assigned to come with us. Asuma, Tenten and Anko. We should have our hidden village not only back, but better than ever at a much quicker pace." Naruto grinned massively at that.

"That's great!"

"Yeah, and not only that, but the Hokage has given the each of us the chance to potentially be unofficial Konoha citizens. Not living here, but we can do things here if we wanted, unlike relying on smaller towns." Hotaru shared gleefully.

"Wow. That sounds amazing! I can't believe that you guys are getting that privilege!"

"It's... nice I guess. I don't care too much either way." Utakata shrugged as he blew bubbles impassively. It was then that Lady Tsunade and Shizune appeared, along with Asuma, Anko and Tenten, ready to leave for Kemono with supplies on them.

"Alright, you now have your help here and supplies. I hope you all are ready." Tsunade stated, finalizing this action.

"Yes, we're good to go." Han nodded as he stood up from his spot. Naruto hugged each of them.

"I'll miss each of you."

"I'll miss you too." Hotaru returned when it was her turn. As Naruto hugged Han, the gentle giant chuckled.

"Heh, you're getting tall kid. I don't have to look straight down." The two chuckled.

"Hey, I'm a kid. I was bound to grow. I'm probably still growing." Naruto defended happily. Han nodded as he sarcastically teased,

"Yeah well, you're always going to be a squirt to me, as everybody else is."

"See you later Naruto. Let's go Hotaru." Utakata said his farewells, leaving a trail of bubbles in front of the orange clad teen as the bubbles popped rhythmically like a melody of sorts. And with that, all of the rebuilders left to the island of Naruto's ancestral ground. By now, the only jinchuriki left were Naruto and Fu.

"So, what are we going to do now, Naruto? Are we going to go have fun? Try some of that Ichiraku ramen?" Fu asked with excited anticipation.

"No. The first thing we're going to do is avenge Pervy Sage." Naruto responded with complete seriousness. This made her smile disappear. "The Akatsuki took away not just my mentor but my father figure. I can't be eating and goofing off when everybody else is doing something important."

"But how can we do that? Even with one of the remaining three killed, that still leaves Pain who could take all seven of us if Jiraiya was correct, and that masked man. Who know how much time we have left." The kunoichi tried to argue out of worry.

"We'll do whatever we can. Even if we can't fight him head-on, we can use other tactics to blindside him. Whatever it takes."

"And that was just what I wanted to hear." Tsunade said confidently, gaining the jinchuriki's attention.

"What do you mean, Granny?" Naruto asked confused.

"How about I let Fukasaku explain." She nodded to the trees, and from them came a small frog wearing a poncho.

"I am Lord Fukasaku. I am one of Jiraiya's mentors."

"A... frog?" Fu stuttered, a bit stumped from seeing a talking animal coming from the woods.

"I have been in contact with Tsunade for the past few days now since word has spread to Mount Myoboku that Jiraiya has been killed, and that you were his most recent student."

"Well, the one he paid most attention to anyway during training." Fu corrected.

"Nonetheless, I've come to be impressed by what you did and how you've accomplished things. I was wondering if perhaps you'd like to train in sage jutsu under my guidance?" This shocked Naruto. He was going to learn something from Jiraiya's sensei?

"Sage jutsu? How awesome is it?"

"Only Jiraiya could use it, and seeing as he's... killed, there's not one person here that can beat him." Tsunade told, hesitating ab bit in the middle.

"And you want to know something, kid?" Fukasaku asked of the orange jinchuriki. "I too am furious. I too want to avenge the death of my student Jiraiya-boy. I believe that the only one who can do that is you Naruto. You do want to avenge him, right Naruto-boy?"

"You better believe I do!" Naruto agreed with a fiery passion.

"Then come with me now. I'll teach you sage art at Mount Myoboku. The same way I hammered it into Jiraiya-boy, I'll hammer it into you." Fukasaku growled with assurance.

"Wait, can't I come with?" Fu asserted herself. "I've also trained under Jiraiya, and I want to be there kicking Akatsuki butt along side him. No way they'll handle two sages at once."

"If you wish, but don't expect this to be easy. Jiraiya trained many years and he's only partially mastered it. If you can master Sage Jutsu to its fullest ability, you might be able to defeat this Pain.

"I want to come to!" A hidden voice called out. They turned to see Hinata step out from a hidden spot with a look of determination in her eyes. "I also want to protect the hidden leaf and Naruto-kun!"

"Tsunade, who is this girl that's been spying on us?" The frog asked.

"This is Hinata Hyuga of the Hyuga Clan. Not only is she one of the most skilled chunin we have in taijutsu, she has the Byakugan which can enhance her vision to see in 360 degrees and see the chakra pathways inside of a human, thus allowing any Hyuga to strike pressure points to disrupt their chakra." The Hokage explained.

"Heh. How unique. Naruto, do you vouch for this Hyuga-girl?"

"Definitely, Toad Sage. She's one of my closer friends and she's really strong." Naruto defended and praised her, causing the girl to blush heavily.

"Very well then. You three shall train under me to learn Sage Jutsu. It's unbelievably rigorous. Are you all ready?" He asked of the two kunoichi and one boy.

"Yes." They answered with no hesitation.

"Then follow me then. We're going to Mount Myoboku." He proclaimed as he took out a scroll and it enlarged to reveal what's inside. With a tap, the three humans and one frog poofed into smoke and were gone from Konoha entirely.

"Please take care of them." Tsunade prayed.  
\-------------------------------------  
They soon appeared in what looked like an unusual place. It had giant leaves where frogs were lounging around lazily, and they came in all sorts of sizes from tiny to as big as a house.

"Wow, this looks so much more magical than Takigakure. I've never seen anything like this." Fu gasped from the breathtaking scenery.

"Yes, mythical lands can be more enchanting than regular parts of the land. Say, what is your name again? I didn't catch it clearly." Fukasaku inquired.

"Fu Dainana."

"Alright then. This is the Land of Toads, as you can see."

"Naruto!" A voice attracted the blonde's attention as a large orange frog leapt right in front of the teens. "Hey."

"Gamakichi." Naruto recognized immediately.

"Yeah, I was the one who summoned you to this place. Welcome to Mount Myoboku." A growl interrupted the greetings as Naruto held his stomach.

"Huh, being summoned sure makes a guy hungry."

"Then let us go eat. You can't train on an empty stomach." Fukasaku instructed.  
\------------------------------------------------------------------  
What was being served did not look appetizing to the three humans as they were what a toad normally eats; grubs, worms, insects, and other things humans don't typically eat.

"I wasn't expecting to cook for so many people, but be sure to eat your fill! I put extra effort into making this meal." Fukasaku's wife Shima declared as it was lunch time. "Don't be shy. Try the caterpillars! They're delicious."

"Uhh... thank you Miss Shima." Fu said and took a first bite of caterpillar as to not be rude. The worried looks of Naruto and Hinata waited in anticipation of her reaction. To their surprise, she smiled as she grabbed a spoon and took another bite. "Mmmmmm, these taste like sweet nuts. And the crickets taste like nutty shrimp!" Looking down at their own portions, the other two tried some of the grub and found out just how tasty they were.

"Wow! Who would've thought bugs would taste so good!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Yeah. This is cool." Hinata agreed as they ate at a rate that surprised the two toad hosts. Fukasaku then laughed.

"Seems like you've gotten some new fans for your cooking, Shima." The two toads then laughed.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
After lunch, they were in front of a waterfall... or more like an oilfall since the stuff cascading into the pool underneath was toad oil.

"Your training starts now."

"Sir, yes sir." All three said at the same time.

"I'll have to explain something to you first. Sage jutsu is not ninjutsu, but rather senjutsu. There's a big difference."

"So, what is it?" Naruto asked.

"Listen carefully, all of you. Ninjutsu relies on internal energy, while senjutsu relies on external energy."

"How would we use external energy?" Fu questioned, becoming positively curious based on her smile.

"Ninjutsu is manipulating the chakra inside of you. What you need to learn is manipulating the chakra coming from your surroundings. This introduces energy to your body that greatly enhances ninjutsu, genjutsu and even taijutsu. Physical and mental energy coming from within you, and nature energy from the outside. Combing all three energies creates sage jutsu." While Naruto was trying to comprehend that, Gamakichi spoke to clear it up.

"It's like putting mint flavor into a vanilla and chocolate ice cream to make it more tasty."

"Oh I love mint ice cream! I love how it leaves a chilled sensation in my mouth." Fu squealed with joy.

"Wait, have you tried it? Aren't toads cold-blooded animals?" Hinata asked confused.

"That's not the point. Quit with the jokes, Gamakichi." Fukasaku told off the orange toad. "Here, let me just show you what I mean." The toad sage sighed as he hopped to a nearby statue of a meditating toad many times larger than himself. "This should be good." He put his hands together before placing them on the rock surface.

"Wow, look at him gathering all that nature energy." Gamakichi commented, but the humans were just confused.

"Where, I don't see anything." But he was then stupefied, along with his female friends as the elderly toad lifted the humongous statue off the ground with visible signs of struggle and groans. All of their eyes bugged out from this amazing display of strength from such a tiny creature.

"Well children, what do you think?" He wheezed out the question as he then supported the thing with just one arm. "What you're looking at is the strength enhancing power of senjutsu." He dropped the statue down, sighing in relief. The statue landed with such force it unsettled the teens' foothold and they fell back. "What you must do... to see and feel its power... is take it inside you." He panted, not having to exert himself that much in a while.

"How do we do that?" Naruto asked.

"By dying." Gamakichi answered nonchalantly. A few seconds passed before the three teens screamed out,

"What?!"

"Okay, hold up! How does dying help anybody!" Naruto pointed at the large orange toad.

"Calm down everyone, calm down. Gamakichi, what's with you saying anything about dying." The toad sage told him off, relieving the shocked Fu and Hinata whom was nearly on the verge of tears.

"But..." Gamakichi was going to explain himself but Fukasaku continued on.

"Relax. Nobody is going to die. Just let me explain. To use Senjutsu, you have to sense it all around you, draw it to you, and pull it into yourself. The first step... is to not move. Not one muscle fiber in your body. Animals like us can only appreciate and learn nature when we stop moving and synchronize ourselves with the flow of nature.

"Isn't that a little bit too easy?" Naruto chuckled. He was then elbowed from his left by Fu.

"It's different for other people, Naruto." She argued with a rare unamused face. "I was never one for sitting still even for short periods of time."

"The hardest things for animals to do is remain absolutely still. This isn't something that can be learned right away. It takes quite some skill to accomplish." Fukasaku said.

"Then let's stop talking and do this already." The male jinchuriki said annoyed, getting impatient.

"Naruto-kun." Hinata whispered, becoming worried.

"Don't take this lightly, boy. Pain has the Rinnegan, the power of the Sage of Six Paths. Powerful enough to kill Jiraiya-boy. With that attitude, defeating Pain will be impossible. From you three, Hinata-girl here has the most likelihood of achieving this step."

"Hinata?" Naruto questioned as the two teens looked at her.

"M-Me?" She asked as the kunoichi was shocked by this.

"Yes. I've been observing you all, and you've moved the least by a wide margin. So still and reserved, it's almost like you don't want to be seen in a crowd of any sort. You take in everything with little to no outward movement. That makes you able to already have a sense of ease to learning this step. But, since Fu here said that staying still is something she can't even do for short periods of time, there's a shortcut we can use."

"A shortcut?! Wow, that's a relief." Fu sighed as she swiped away sweat from her forehead. Fukasaku hopped to the oil pond and pointed at the oilfall.

"This here is the secret toad oil of Mount Myoboku. Fu, come to me and hold out your hand." The female jinchuriki walked to him and knelt down to offer her hand to him. Fukasaku dipped his finger into the oil and applied it to her palm. "This is more than simple oil. It has the property of attracting spirit energy. This will advance your training.

"Now that's what I call useful." Fu remarked impressed.

"Wherever the oil is applied, nature energy will enter through your skin, and as you gradually learn to feel it, you'll gain the ability to sense nature energy. Fu's eyes started to go hazy and she started drooling with a dopey smile.

"Now you're grasping the concept. This is a tool to help you. In time, you won't even need to use the oil. However, there is a risk." He warned, but it appeared to have already started as half of her face and her extended arm manifested the physical features of a toad. "If you use it improperly, you yourself will turn into a toad.

"What?!" She yelped as the kunoichi looked into the oil to see her disformed face. She then screeched from horror of this development.

"What happened to my beautiful face! I don't want to be a toad!" To quiet her down, Fukasaku whacked her over the head with a staff proportioned to his size.

"Hey, don't you hit..." Fu stopped her rant when she noticed her hand was back to normal, and saw her face was completely pretty again. "...a girl."

"It's all about balance." Fukasaku started explaining again. You're used to ninjutsu, so you're balanced in that regard, but now you must add senjutsu to the mix, and finding the perfect balance is extremely difficult. Take in too little, not sage chakra for you. Too much, and you'll be overwhelmed and turn into a frog. Just a little too much is reversible though. That's what this baton is for. But too much is the point where nothing can be done, and the frog stage is permanent. You see all these toad statues surrounding this place? Those are failed students.

"All of them?" Hinata squeaked as she started shaking in fear.

"Don't fret too much, Hinata-girl. I'll be with you whacking you with this baton each time too much gets into you all. I'll have to be honest. Even Jiraiya-boy wasn't able to complete the process. I doubt any of you to back out, but what will you all do now knowing this?" He asked the potential students. After a few seconds of contemplation, Naruto nodded.

"I'll do it. My ninja way is the same as Pervy Sages'. He declared as he punched his fist into his palm.

"If he's doing it, then I won't back out either." Fu agreed, walking to stand by her boyfriend.

"I-I won't run away. I'll stay as well." Hinata concurred, also standing with Naruto as all three nodded in solidarity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did research on the taste of a few insects, so some caterpillar and crickets do have a nutty flavor. The shrimp part was a surprise for me though. Sure, it may look gross, but insects are certainly better than animal dung. Remember Bear Grylls?


	11. Ways of the Toad

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time to practice some sage mode.

"Excellent." Fukasaku said smiling. "Now go and get undressed." It took a few seconds to register that before all three yelled,

"What?!" Naruto and Fu were plenty shocked, but Hinata looked absolutely mortified by this notion seeing how she went completely pale.

"What, you want to wear clothing while covered in toad oil? That would just make things super uncomfortable for your skin. Jiraiya-boy did it."

"Yeah well, he was a guy!" Fu argued annoyed looking. "You can't just ask girls to strip! Not only is that rude, it's totally perverted. Right Hinata? Hinata?" The jinchuriki girl looked at the other kunoichi to see why she wasn't agreeing with her, but she was taken aback as Hinata fainted while Naruto caught her.

"Whoa, Hinata. I got you." He blurted quickly as he had little time to do so. He laid her down on the ground while Fu and Fukasaku went to her.

"Oh great. What happened to her?" The toad sage asked with a mix of annoyance and curiosity.

"Uh, yeah... you may have noticed before now but she's shy. In a fight she's reliable, but in regular social situations, she tends to not do as well. She can even have fainting spells when she's overwhelmed." Naruto explained.

"How... unfortunate. Well, both of you take her behind a stone statue, talk some sense into her and report back to me. I'll be waiting." Fukasaku ordered as he turned back at the oilfall to gaze upon its beauty. Naruto and Fu took her arms and legs respectively and brought her behind the biggest statue they saw and laid her down.

"So, how do we wake her up?" The male jinchuriki asked. After a few seconds of silence, Fu nodded.

"Chomei says we could take our respective jinchuriki energies and pump her up with adrenaline. Not enough to lethal levels or make her hyper, but just enough to make it so fainting is impossible."

"Hmm. Kurama, you got an opinion on that?" Naruto asked his tailed beast."

"Let's pour it in slowly. Even a small burst could be too much. I want to see what happens." The fox answered.

"He's okay with it. We just have to be slow with the transfer. And he's curious."

"Alright. Let's do it." Nodding in agreement, Fu and Naruto each clapped their hands gathering energy before putting their right and left respectively on her forehead pooling said energy there. Within seconds, Hinata woke up like she was hit with a lightning jutsu. She sat up very startled and looked around to see Naruto and Fu.

"Wha-what happened? Everything just went dark after Fukasaku..." She then remembered what he said before yelling while covering herself up, "Noooooo! How can he ask such a thing?!"

"I know, I was nearly compelled to kick him over that oily waterfall." Fu uttered as she rolled her eyes.

"But he did counter that training in oil drenched clothing would be very uncomfortable. We wouldn't be able to focus." The orange clad teen argued.

"That may be a good point but..." The jinchuriki kunoichi tried to counter but couldn't think of a good reason. "... he obviously doesn't understand how human women feels about it. Like we're as shameless as men."

"So, does he have a bad reason or bad insight about women?" Naruto asked, tilting his head in confusion. She looked away to the right before answering,

"Insight. Fine, I'll do it, but I'm keeping my modesty."

"Bu-but-but I..." Hinata was still extremely embarrassed and redder than a tomato, but to her surprise, she couldn't faint. "Wa-wait, shou-shouldn't things b-be go-going dark b-by now?"

"Oh yeah. We jump started your body with adrenaline and tailed beast energy. So now your body is too hyped up to faint." Fu told her. Hinata looked... mixed in her expression. Like she was happy she wouldn't faint but sad and shocked that she couldn't use it as a scapegoat.

"Well, let's get this over with." Naruto sighed as he zipped down his jacket and took it off along with his mesh shirt. Fu got a little smiley and blushed a bit, but the Hyuga girl became even more red somehow and got a soft nosebleed. As he took off his pants to reveal his shorts along with his sandals, Fu also went along with it by removing her arm band, the cloth on her arms and her skirt and shoes. When she finally took off her white top and they were down to their bare essentials, they looked down at the Hyuga girl who wanted to faint, but realized there was no getting out of it. She whimpered as she unzipped her baggy jacket and showed off her rather large bust in her mesh shirt. Naruto's eyes bugged out while Fu gasped.

"Oh my god. What have you been eating, girl?" Hinata covered her chest, not wanting to have it stared at and commented on. "Oh no, now is definitely not the time to be shy. Get up." Fu shut her idea down as she picked the poor girl up. "Hinata, how much do you want to help Naruto? Protect him from the torture Pain could inflict him?" Although very hesitant, she said,

"Y-yes. I d-do want to pr-protect him."

"Then I know how you can get rid of that shyness. Hug. Him."

"But... th-this is so embarrassing." She complained.

"Hinata?" Naruto spoke, gaining her attention. "Remember what I said to you when I left? When I was exiled all that time ago?"

"That you would... return for me." She responded, her stutter somehow gone now.

"Well, even though I came back unconscious, the fact you wanted to come with me makes me admire you even more." Her eyes widened from his statement about her. "What especially helps is when you said you loved me. Well, given enough time, I could love you too. To the extent that you do."

"Naruto-kun." Hinata started tearing up, unable to hold in her emotions. Naruto held his arms open.

"Come here." She dived into the Uzumaki's arms, crying her eyes out as the two hugged each other letting it all out. Fu smiled in that she could get her boyfriend connect with his potential second.   
Soon, he could hear the footsteps of his new students, so he turned towards them to see them stripped down to their underwear, cloth or mesh, for the oil practice, though Hinata's mesh shirt had some pieces cut off so that it was more like a sports bra then a shirt.

"Good. Now, sit in the oil there." He pointed to the spots. From left to right, Hinata, Naruto and Fu sat down in the oil and Fukasaku started throwing more oil onto them. Around their eyes, colored marks appeared. Naruto's eyes were surrounded by orange, Fu's was surrounded by green, and Hinata's was surrounded by indigo. As they eventually became more frog like, Naruto and Fu expectedly recoiled in pain whenever they were swatted with the baton, but Hinata didn't move upon being hit aside from her eyes twitching. After about the third swat, Naruto groaned before remembering,

"Oh yeah, I remembered something that could make this even quicker."

"Eh, what's that?" The teacher questioned.

"We could try to use shadow clones, which will exponentially speed up our progress learning all this."

"You do have a point." The toad sage agreed while turning away. "All their experience would revert back to the original. But be warned, if even just one of those clones turn into a frog, it's over."

"Yeah, yeah, I know."

"Uh, Naruto-kun. I don't know the shadow clone jutsu." Hinata advocated worriedly.

"Don't worry Hinata. With the Byakugan, you should be able to learn that jutsu much faster than me explaining it. Excuse me guys, we'll be maybe ten minutes or something." When the two finally came back and got ready, Fukasaku requested,

"Now, since we'll be using shadow clones, only one of you three get to train at a time, and use up to four clones because I won't be able to keep up afterwards." And with that, they evenly took turns to train four times faster. However, this wasn't going so well since it seemed like they were getting beat up without much gain.

"Oww, this hurts a lot." Naruto cried out as he was now wearing black eye. "But if this is how I'm going to be as strong as Pervy Sage, then I'll just persevere through."

"Unfortunately, that's impossible." Fukasaku objected. The three humans looked down at the toad sage. "Sage jutsu is not for everyone. Not by a long shot. It's possible because of you both and Jiraiya-boy. And you convinced me because of Hinata-girl's special talents. Otherwise, none of you would be here."

"Sometimes, you don't make sense at all." Naruto complained.

"Well, unless you have enormous chakra inside of you, then nature energy would simply take over and transform you immediately. That's how intense and incredible nature energy is. But you also must have the guts to never give up. That's the person who can become a sage."

"Huge chakra? Then I would..." Hinata started to sweat that she couldn't do it before Fu brushed off her concern.

"Don't worry about that part, Hinata. We can just keep pumping you up with our jinchuriki energy so that you become accustomed to it. You're not going to die."

"Alright, let's get started!" Naruto cheered before diving into the oil.

"You fool! Do you want to die?!" After getting that sorted, it took some time and intense whacking, but eventually, Hinata was indeed the first to see nature energy with her toad enhanced eye.

"I-I can see it." She quietly celebrated as Naruto and Fu danced with exuberance. After a buggy lunch, all three learned to sense nature energy.

"Now that you can sense nature energy, I want you to use it to lift one of the statues." The toad sage instructed. "But before that, try using your normal ninjutsu."

"Alright, Hinata got to shine, but now's my turn to do so." Naruto boasted as he approached the large frog rock. After psyching up his body, he gripped the rock and tried to push it upwards, but it wouldn't even budge a millimeter. "Augh, I can't lift it!"

"Enough!" Fukasaku said. Naruto backed away, panting.

"Naruto-kun." Hinata mumbled to herself.

"Oh what's wrong, Naruto? I thought you wanted to show how manly you were with your big strong body. Like Han." Fu teased before snickering.

"I can do without the heckling, thank you very much!" He retorted back.

"You see how ninjutsu couldn't budge it? Now mix it with sage chakra."

"Okay." He groaned as he dipped his hands in the oil and started meditating to absorb senjutsu. His face and body became warty and his eyes became orange unlike blue, but he was good and ready.

"Good, now try lifting it again." Naruto nodded as he walked the statue and struggled just the same, but this time the feet were lifted off the ground, surprising Gamakichi.

"That's it Naruto-boy!" Fukasaku encouraged.

"Yeah, Naruto! Lift that chunk of rock!" Fu cheered while jumping up and down.

"You can do it, Naruto-kun." Hinata uttered louder than usual. With all his strength, he was able to lift the statue over his head, hearing the praise uproar behind him.

"Nicely done, Naruto!" Gamakichi said, proud in his friend.

"Yeah! Now that's how you lift a boulder!" Fu shouted as she draped an arm around the flustered Hinata, rocking her back and forth.

"Yeah, I did it!" Naruto yelled in excitement as he threw the statue, though he was a bit too strong in that as it started falling farther than intended, falling onto its back, knocking into the one behind it, starting a domino effect that brought down five statues.

"Oh man." The male jinchuriki groaned in disappointment.

"Alright, Naruto-boy, pick up those statues and put them back in place." The toad sage ordered.

"Oh come on!"

After Naruto put the statues back into place and the two kunoichi lifted the same statue, the training kept going until Fukasaku felt it was time.

"Okay, it took a bit longer than expected with Fu mastering the toad oil assisted training, Hinata was quicker than Naruto so we aren't that far behind schedule. Now you need to master senjutsu without using any toad oil whatsoever."

"Alright! I can feel the toad power flowing into me!" Naruto proclaimed as he jumped onto one of the higher ledges of the frog statues.

"You ain't kidding! With this sage jutsu, my flying speed feels ten times faster!" Fu remarked, flying around fast enough in the air to form a Mach cone, booming across the sky before returning to the group.

Activating her byakugan, Hinata gasped. "Wow. I can sense chakra across this entire island and surrounding sea. Even the plants and bugs."

"And that is just the most basic incomplete form. Now here's the tricky part. The more ninjutsu each of you use, the more exhausted you become. With senjutsu, you're drawing in more and more nature energy. You won't tire and you'll recover more quickly too. And with you two also having tailed beast energy in the mix as well, I'd say you would only need seconds before your stamina is completely recovered as long as you stay still. Naruto-boy, come down here, will you?" Landing on his feet, he walked in between the two kunoichi while Fukasaku brought out a book from his poncho. "Here, I thought I'd give you a little gift today. This is the first story Jiraiya-boy ever set down on paper. And a lot of his thoughts and feelings are contained within it. You want to read it?" Having mixed feelings on his face, he took the book and looked it over.  
\--------------------  
"Tales of a Gutsy Ninja."

"My name is... Naruto..." The Uzumaki jinchuriki wiped away his tears while snorting up the snot that was dripping down his nose. He and the two girls listened to him read it for the past five and a half hours while taking 15 minute breaks every hour.

"Huh. By itself, the story isn't that great, but knowing him personally, I can see the symbolism and hope he put into it. It felt... good listening to it." Fu commented.

"I... liked it." Hinata spoke her opinion.

"Yeah. I remember how Pervy Sage wanted to make a change in the shinobi world that would solve all of its hate, and that a day would come that everybody would understand each other and live in harmony. Because I didn't get his passion in writing, he wouldn't give me an autograph even if I wanted one. But I didn't want one, because he gave me something way more valuable than that."

"What would that be?" Hinata asked, curious.

"That he cared about me."

"Yeah, that's something that anybody wants, right? To be cared for? Loving parent, siblings, friends who don't judge you. There's so much insecurity." Fu debated as she looked up at the sky, looking thoughtful.

"I had a rough childhood, like Naruto. I was held up on high expectations as the Hyuga heiress. They thought my soft personality was weak, and didn't treat me right. At some point, I lost the position of inheritance to my sister. So I've grown to be extremely shy and uncertain about my worth. But Naruto was my inspiration. He helped me advance and become stronger in not only strength, but resolve. I wanted to be just like him." Hinata disclosed.

"Wow. That is so sad and sweet. I can see how you love him." Fu remarked, prompting Hinata to blush heavily in shock.

"Wha-what?! W-why do -you think s-so?" She tried denying.

"Oh please, even if he didn't tell me, I would've easily guessed based on how you interact with him. It's as obvious as Naruto's hair."

"My hair?" He asked confused looking up at it.

"The point is, you love him, and he's confided in me that he wants to hang out with you before deciding on pursuing a relationship with you. And from what he's told me about you, I'm all for it. Maybe when this is all over, you two can go on a date or two before tying the knot. What do you say?" Fu explained. Hinata, while blushing, wasn't too emotional surprisingly, and pondered about it before Naruto encouraged.

"I'm in for it." Hearing that, Hinata's eyes widened before a small smile grew on her face.

"Thank you, Naruto." After thinking about something, Hinata asked something. "There's something that's worrying me. Fukasaku said you need to have extraordinary amounts of chakra, but the Hyuga Clan aren't known for their massive amount of chakra; more of the Gentle Fist style and byakugan. Even if you guys gave me chakra during training, I could still turn into a frog."

"Yeah, that is a problem. You have a sense of senjutsu, but it may overwhelm your body if your chakra reserve is too small. Hmm." Naruto pondered as he thought about the conundrum. It was then that Fu realized something.

"Hey, I know! Why don't we fill her with our jinchuriki chakra? Not enough to overwhelm her, but enough where she has a better chance to survive senjutsu training."

"Kurama, thoughts?"

"It depends if she's compatible. We gave her enough to wake up, but to expand her chakra pool is something else entirely. The reason tailed beasts would appear all of the sudden if they're not summoned is that the host was not capable of holding us in. The Cloud Village is especially guilty of this from rumor I've heard. If she's willing to take the risk, we'll pour it in slowly. See how she reacts." The tailed beast explained.

"Kurama says that it depends on if your body is compatible. You could either become more resilient to senjutsu overload, or you may just be overloaded from tailed beast energy." The male jinchuriki warned, but Hinata shook it off.

"I-I need to become stronger. I haven't run away yet, so I'm not going to start now. I need to advance as much as you two."

"If that's what you want. Let's do this, Fu." Naruto said with confidence. Fu nodded with a grin as they each sat in the formation of a triangle. Both jinchuriki clapped their hands to gather tailed beast energy. The two linked their hands so the red aura enveloped them. Cooperating with the tailed beasts, they molded and transformed the chakra to more resemble human chakra. Extending their hands, Hinata took hold before also being enveloped in the red aura. It really took her by surprise, feeling how large the two combined sources are, but only feeling tiny streams pour into her body, and yet still feel so powerful.

("It feels... comforting... and warm.") The Hyuga girl thought to herself as the aura began to take shape. Around her body, the chakra took the form of claws, fox ears, a beetle horn on her forehead and a fox tail surrounded by two wings.

"That's enough." Both tailed beasts said before cutting off the chakra, thus the aura around the jinchuriki dissipating. "Even though we only gave you a billionth of our combined chakra, your chakra capacity has been boosted a hundred fold. However, this is still only a temporary powerup. Once you have actively used all the chakra, you're back to using your own. Also, while your capacity has increased a hundred fold, the same can't be said for your performance. I'd say that you can perform about six or seven times better until you're out."

"No, thank you so much, Kurama. Even if I didn't become any better, this much larger reserve will serve me well when the fight happens against Pain." Hinata praised gratefully. The tailed beast simply growled in acknowledgment, unused to being thanked for anything. Her aura was then absorbed into her body, the process complete.

"Well, with that out of the way, let's train some more." Fu recommended with renewed vigor.

"Right!" The other two agreed.  
\---------------------------  
And so, the three ninja were meditating again one at a time with Fukasaku overlooking again. Every few seconds one of them would start turning into a frog, but the toad sage would whack them.

"Focus, Fu-girl. You're still moving, even if it's just a little. Do not move." He strictly warned.

"I know, I know. This is super hard without the toad oil."

"Well what did you expect when you stopped using the short cut?" He asked rhetorically. "I can obviously see that your skills in concentration and meditation are lacking."

"Well it's not like I didn't learn anything!" She complained. "I'm using everything you taught me!"

"That's quite enough. Follow me." The toad sage cut off as he hopped away. After a bit of time, the four found themselves in an area where it was jagged spikes dozens of feet high.

"What's this? Stalagmites?" Naruto inquired, not getting the picture.

"If sitting still on the ground won't cut it, maybe doing it on a slab at their highest elevation will motivate you to keep still." Fukasaku said sternly. "Just grab a slab you're comfortable with and follow me." He instructed as he climbed the giant spike.

Surrounding the Toad Sage was a whole bunch of clones of his students, sitting still on the spires initially appearing to be meditating with no movement what's so ever. Fu's nose twitched from an itch and that already set her off with need for rebalance.

"Stay still, Fu-girl. You must learn to stop your motion as an animal. You need to find your balance and synchronize with the nature around you." But trying to pay attention merely distracted her as she and her clones fell down, only for Fukasaku to grab the real one with her tongue, accidently causing her to bash into his pillar while the slabs and clones disappeared below. The next one to fall was Naruto, whom suffered the same thing. Again and again the two fell off, but the one who failed the least was Hinata, only needing rescue after the first try since her bust misaligned her center of balance. Eventually they took a break after about half of the stone slabs were broken by repeated failures and evident bruising across the jinchuriki's bodies.

"Man, why is staying still so hard?! How do you freaking do it, Hinata?! There's no way you're so balanced with that rack!" Fu accused the Hyuga girl pointing at her, whom covered her chest in embarrassment.

"Toad Sage, did Jiraiya-sensei get past this part? I'm not sure how he did this." Naruto asked while popping his back in pain.

"Indeed he did. The two of us trained here quite often." He closed his eyes to remember a moment in the past before opening them up. "I'll give him this, he had more guts than anyone else around. In fact, he never complained. Jiraiya-boy rather enjoyed the training. The same with Hinata-girl here. If she's been complaining, she's at least keeping them to herself, unlike you, my impatient students."

"How long did it take him?" Naruto asked.

"In between training here and his missions with his village, it took quite some time. A few years, more precise." Hearing this, Naruto nodded as he stood up and created some shadow clones to continue training.

"We don't have years. If we're going to get this right so we can defeat Pain, we need to do this as fast as possible. If Pervy Sage did the same training, I'll do my best too." He declared smiling while doing a thumbs up. The two kunoichi smiled as Fu turned her gaze to Hinata.

"Hinata, I'm sorry for the rack thing. I was just frustrated. I need to take this more seriously and stop complaining." Hinata's smile grew hearing that and nodded.

"Apology accepted."  
\-----------------  
Even with shadow clones, it took several days of sitting on top of the spikes. Hinata only fell down a total of three times over that span of time while the jinchuriki tumbled down on a frequent basis. But with each passing day, the number of spills decreased with notable success. There were even times one of them was about to fall but regained balance. Like before, Hinata was the first to advance to the next level, as her eyes were surrounded by lavender circles, and her byakugan eyes gaining deep purple shaded frog pupils. However, she couldn't get rid of the warts and webbing, implying an inability or limitation of mastery. A few hours later, and Naruto did the same but better with orange shading around his eyes and no frog features. Fu took another day of training, but around mid-day, she was finally successful when blue spiked ovals appeared around her eyes, and no frog features. When they each got down to the ground, Naruto and Hinata marveled at her ascension.

"Wow, Fu. That's a cool design there." Naruto complimented wholeheartedly.

"It does look good on you." Hinata added. Fu chuckled before hugging them both.

"Aw, shucks. You're going to make me blush. Thanks."

"So, how does it feel for each of you?" Fukasaku asked each of them.

"It feels nearly overwhelming. I can feel it turning my body, but I do have the skill to keep myself from transforming any more than that." The Hyuga girl observed, sad that she couldn't do better.

"As for me, it feels great! I feel so strong, so... so... sage like." Naruto commented.

"Yeah. It's like I could fight a Kage and win hands down." Fu remarked.

"Good. Now let's demonstrate something. Naruto, jump as high as you can, but land on your back. No hands or feet." The toad sage requested.

"Wait, that means I'm now super tough? Alright! YAHOOOooo!" Naruto cheered as he jumped superhigh, about a few hundred feet before coming back down and smashing into the ground like a rock, but got up like he landed in flowers. "That didn't hurt at all!"

"That is the power of sage mode. Your bodies have activated to a whole new level. Even you, Hinata-girl. Even though you failed to master sage mode, your body is still stronger, faster and more durable than without it. Just not to the same extent as these two here. Maybe just as much as Jiraiya-boy when he would use it, at best." Fukasaku said while scratching his bearded chin.

"You hear that Hinata? You're about on par as Pervy Sage!" Naruto laughed as he slapped her on the back, though not successfully reassuring her all that much.

"Now, there's just one more step that sages perform using sage jutsu chakra. Now I shall teach you three Frog Kumite to spare with frogs.  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
After the sun went down with the evening used up training in Frog Kumite and then eating dinner, Naruto woke up deliberately, looked around his room to see his female friends, making sure they were asleep before slinking away as quietly as he could. In the middle of night, illuminated purple by the night sky and crickets filling the atmosphere with sound except for when one is eaten by a sleep-eating frog which makes it somewhat quieter. Naruto was walking past all the giant leaves. When he was sure he was far enough away from the group so that they didn't hear him, he meditated so that he could enter sage mode. Next, the jinchuriki created two shadow clones to help him create a technique that was considered forbidden for himself. He held out his hand to pour out his chakra, one clone pawed at the area to create the rasengan, and the other to power it up with wind style energy, making it into a rasenshuriken. Concentrating with his sage power, he held the spinning ball of razor sharp destructive energy. Without yelling, he threw it at a rock spire, which blew up upon contact. Naruto's clones dispersed and his sage mode wore off, thus he began sweating profusely while panting.

"Even though it's still far from perfect... I'm going to have to try it in sage mode, and make sure nobody catches me."

"Naruto." A girl's voice called out to him. He quickly turned to his right to see Hinata coming out from behind a plant stalk, looking impressed.

"H-Hinata? What are you doing out here?!" He asked frantically.

"I could sense you leaving. I think that when you two gave me a power boost, it also enhanced my senses. I used the byakugan to track you here. Your attack just now. It looked... super cool." She complimented, blushing heavily and quivering a bit.

"Hehe, thanks." Naruto said while looking away awkwardly. "Sorry about that. It's a technique that Jiraiya-sensei and my family helped me create. It's considered a forbidden jutsu though since it damages my arm because it's so strong. I was just lucky I was pulled back when it was starting to get a little too much, so injuries were moderate but not debilitating. I was hoping with sage mode, I could be able to throw it so that I don't get hurt in the blast. I still have a long way to go though."

"Maybe we can help each other." The Hyuga girl said, building up confidence. Naruto gazed into her eyes as she entered her imperfect sage mode. "I don't want to fall behind because my sage mode isn't mastered. Can you please help me with a technique of my own?" Hearing her request, he smiled with excitement as he performed the shadow clone jutsu hand sign.

"Sure Hinata. Let's see what you want to learn."

In the morning, after a hearty breakfast and Shima going off to get more ingredients, that once again left Fukasaku and the three humans.

"You're all able to manipulate sage jutsu chakra, and have mastered the basics of Frog Kumite of the sage arts. Now there's one more thing to discuss." The toad sage said with a stone expression.

"What's this about? You suddenly turned serious." Naruto observed.

"For good reason. This is the risks involved using sage mode. Once you grasp the risks, then you can exploit sage mode to its fullest extent.

"So... what are the risks?" Hinata asked politely.

"As you all know, the first is that you can't maintain it for long. 5 minutes at most. Also, to enter it, you must follow the rule of staying still, which means you can't use it in the middle of battle. You become an easy target. To do so in a battle, you either need friends back up, or withdraw momentarily.

"What? How does this help us?! It's almost like you're saying sage mode is useless!" Fu accused the frog. Naruto was also horrified by this revelation.

"Don't be so glum. That's why I'm here, to diminish those risks. All we have to do is merge our bodies together. Then it'll be fine."

"Wait, how would that work? Do we become a human-frog hybrid?" Naruto asked, which Fu screamed 'NO!' into the ceiling.

"Of course not. Me and Shima would simply be attached to either one of your shoulders, whomever decides to use it. Doing this splits the rolls of stillness and action. While one of you is moving the other is staying still gathering nature energy. Jiraiya-boy had both of us on his shoulders. Now none of you worry." The Toad Sage reassured.

"Well, let's get to it then." Naruto suggested.  
\--------------------------------------  
A/N: And that's it for the training part. The Pain invasion takes over and the training doesn't have much for me to add. I hope I did this good without doing anything terribly wrong. Plus, in case you're thinking it, I know that the jinchuriki energy transfer was researched on intensely past the Pain Arc, but considering that I'm not going to be doing the Five Kage and Shinobi World War Arcs, I just handwaved it to say it's possible if there's proper cooperation. In fact, the next two or three chapters will be the end of Jinchuriki Family: Shippuden. I thank you all for reading this story. I can't wait to see how this ends word by word instead of a general idea. You all have been great. Thanks. Sayonara.


	12. Sage vs. Pain

"Naruto!" Sakura cried out, tears dropping from her face as the gravity hit her full force that Konoha was utterly destroyed with only a crater remaining. Near the epicenter, there was a giant cloud of smoke that appeared. Anybody that survived witnessed that from the could were three giant toads. On top of each of the toad's heads were each of the sages. Hinata on the left, Fu on the right, and Naruto right in the middle on Gamakichi's head. Each of them wore a cloak that nearly represented the color their sage mode was. Naruto wore red to compliment his orange, Fu wore green to compliment her blue, and Hinata wore light pink to compliment her lavender.

Descending from the sky, Pain dropped into the dust cloud he created from the destruction he wrought. Naruto and Hinata looked around to see... nothing? They could see the insides of a crater they were standing in and a lot of dust, but they expected a village, even a partially damaged one. But there was nothing.

"Man, I don't get it." Naruto spoke first, perplexed. "Where are we?"

"I thought Konoha was here." Hinata added, just as confused as her fellow sage.

"Is it possible it's... not?" Fu questioned, throwing an idea.

"Where's the enemy we're supposed to face?" The middle toad, Gamabuta asked. In front of Naruto, Shima appeared to land right in front of Naruto and Fukasaku.

"What's going on, Ma? Why didn't you summon us in the hidden leaf like we asked?" Frowning, she answered,

"I'm afraid this is the hidden leaf village."

"I don't understand." Gamakichi said, confused.

"Just take a good look." And indeed, as the wind blew the dust away, Konoha Rock was the first to be seen, and the outer edges showed slabs of rock that were the buildings. "It's obvious to me who did all this. I sense the same energy as when we rode atop Jiraiya-boy's shoulders." The realization fully hit Naruto and Hinata then, their hearts pounding so hard they could hear it. Their eyes open wide in sheer shock that their birthplace was destroyed. Naruto's eyes scrunched up as his anger started to show through.

"This attack... it's unspeakable." Hinata uttered, horrified by what remained. From the ground, Pain walked out from the dust, meeting the gazes of Naruto and Fu.

"Good, now I don't have to hunt you down." From above, all the other pains appeared from the sky via Animal Path's summoning, landing in front of the Deva Path. In between the sages and Pain, Lady Tsunade stepped in. She was bloodied and panting from exhaustion.

"I... am the fifth Hokage. How dare you trample on our jewel, the dreams of my predecessors. I won't forgive you! I'll settle this now as Hokage!"

"It appears you understand a little about Pain. However, I have little need of you right now." The Asura Path flew forward to attack Tsunade, but was utterly destroyed by Naruto with a rasengan, smashing him into the ground into tiny mechanical pieces.

"There's no need for the leaf's Hokage to bother herself with the likes of them. Just sit back and sip some tea, Granny." Naruto recommended.

"Naruto." She whispered.

"Naruto Uzumaki of the Leaf Village. And Fu Dainana of the Waterfall Village." Pain observed.

"That's it! We settle this right here and now! Gamakichi!" The orange frog landed behind Naruto. "I want you to take Granny Tsunade some place safe."

"Gotcha."

"Granny, we'll take over from here. Keep everybody else out of this. I can't worry about anyone else outside of this area." Seeing no other option, Tsunade nodded as she took a white and blue slug out of her robe.

"Alright, but here, please take Katsuyu. I'm sure she'll come in handy. She has intel on all the pains." Fukasaku grabbed hold of Katsuyu as he and Shima landed on the huge scroll strapped to Naruto's back.

"Go, Katsuyu-girl. Hide yourself in his clothing."

"Right." She agreed as she slithered into his robe.

"I probably shouldn't bring this up right now, but now that I've mastered nature energy, I can sense everybody's chakra. Is Kakashi-sensei away on a mission?" Tsunade said nothing to his hopeful question. After a few seconds, he continued, "I see. Go Gamakichi!" The orange frog jumped away with Tsunade in tow. The Animal Path summoned a giant rhino to attack Naruto, but with slight effort, he managed to stop it in its tracks, Fukasaku and Shima on his shoulders. With a short shout, he threw the rhinoceros into the air. Animal Path then summoned a giant ox and a multiheaded dog while the frog sages jumped into the air.

"Let's go! Sage Art: Frog Song!" From their mouths, soundwaves screeched out stopping the animals. During the distraction, Naruto ran past them summoning two shadow clones to prepare a rasengan in each hand. Unlike the normally fruit sized balls of chakra he normally carry, they were as large as giant beach balls as they each took a ball and rammed them into the animals.

"Sage Art: Giant Rasengan!" While the giant toads went to fight the summons, Naruto confronted the Preta Path in his run.

"Naruto, ninjutsu doesn't work on the pain right in front of you. He can absorb all ninjutsu attacks." Katsuyu told the jinchuriki sage.

"Alright, Frog Kumite it is!" He affirmed as they both threw and dodged their head target punches, with Preta further moving back from a kick.

"All the pains are visually linked. A blind spot attack is useless unless you're out of the other's sightline." The slug forewarned. After flipping away from the path, he grinned.

"Well then, I'll show them an attack they can't see." As the two threw more punches, despite missing, Preta's face gained an impact anyway, sending him rolling. "Now I'll finish this with my new jutsu. Shadow Clone Jutsu!" He created two more clones.

"I see. You've become a sage. You've mastered the same jutsu as Jiraiya-sensei." Pain observed.

"Yeah, I remember him saying you were also his student."

"That's right. I learned from Jiraiya. We have the same master. That makes us sibling students. Sharing the same sensei, we ought be able to understand each other. Our master desired peace." Angered that he thought they would understand each other, he create a rasenshuriken.

"Shut the hell up! Everything you did, all this destruction you caused, what does any of it says peaceful?!"

"You can't see the forest for the trees. You can't comprehend it the meaning or my goal. Just surrender, and your death will lead to peace."

"I already told you; shut the hell up!" Naruto yelled in fury as he threw the rasenshuriken. The five standing in its path jumped out of the way, but the attack expanded and was able to hit one of the paths. The Animal Path summoned a bird that tried to dive bomb Naruto, but he jumped over its head and leapt off the body.

"He just doesn't listen." Pain sighed as Naruto landed on the ground. He and Animal Path engaged in combat with the sage on the defensive kunai in hand.

"You're really beginning to slow down. It seems like your sage jutsu is starting to rapidly wane. Did you use up all your sage chakra on that last attack?" From the sidelenes when the kunoichi jumped off the toad's heads, Fu also noticed Naruto's sage jutsu was decreasing as well, so she grew two wings out of her lower back to fly over the battle field and clapped her hands.

"Secret Sage Art: Blinding Sun Sparkles!" Breathing in before exhaling, she blew out powder scales, obstructing the whole field. But unlike her normal technique, these were so light sensitive, each one shined with the brightness of a 20 Kilowatt lightbulb. While everybody was painfully blinded, those who have sage chakra were still able to detect where everybody was. Moving fast, Naruto bashed two rasengan into Animal Path.

"Rasengan barrage!" This caused all the summoned animals to disappear, just as sage mode wore off on Naruto. Needing to reenter sage mode quick before the distraction fell away, he took the scroll of his back and reverse summoned one of his clones from Mount Myoboku. Disengaging that clone, the sage chakra came back to him, fully recharging him. He went for the Deva Path with his eyes closed and started punching at Pain before kicking him away, tumbling across the ground like Preta Path. ("Good thing I made some back ups.") With the powder scales growing duller in light and the wind blowing it away, Pain was taken aback that not only was Naruto back to full strength, he already prepared another rasenshuriken. With a throw, it appeared that the path was doomed, but the Preta Path got in between and absorbed the ninjutsu, rendering the attack useless. "That's right, that's his ability."

"But I thought we already punched him out." One clone argued. They noticed something large and noticed a big demonic like head summoned from the Naraka Path.

"That pain is a key player." Katsuyu told him.

"So he's the one that can repair damaged people." After Katsuyu explained everything to the jinchuriki sage, he looked to the three biggest threats of the six paths.

"Well whatever the case, we have to get rid of that guy in the back and use smoke bombs too." Creating to big rasengans, he disappeared within red smoke from underneath the three Uzumakis. From the smoke, a rasenshuriken was thrown.

"It's useless." Preta said as he was ready to absorb. He took the attack head on, but was surprised when it was a trick, transforming into one of the original. He ran into the path, pushing him to the ground.

"There's no time to dodge this, you're done!" Unfortunately, the attack was repelled by Deva Path's push ability.

"It seems my power has finally returned."

"Just wait!" From above, one of the clones slammed two rasengan into the Naraka Path's back. "Sage Art: Rasengan barrage!"

("Back then, he already leapt into the air from the smoke. Just in time.") When the clone tried to attack and the original tried to finish off the Preta Path, they were too late. "Almighty Push!" A shockwave sent the Uzumakis flying away. All of the three giant toads tried attacking the two paths, but they jumped out of the way.

"It seems that his repulsion and attraction power has returned to him." The slug stated.

"That one." Naruto observed.

"Which means that in all likelihood, the village was destroyed by that pain's jutsu. And the more power that he uses, the longer the interval is before powering back up."

"That's why he couldn't use that repelling jutsu until just now. So what do we do? I can't use ninjutsu or taijutsu on them."

"According to Choji, the minimum interval is about 5 seconds. You'll have to target and strike within that window."

"Then perhaps our best bet is to trap him with genjutsu." Fukasaku deduced.

"But how? I'm no good at that."

"We'll do it, Naruto-boy."

"Yes, of course. Just like the last time." Shima agreed. During the battle of Jiraiya-boy and Pain, it was going to be our means of escape." They were interrupted when an almighty push sent all the giant toads flying into the walls of the crater, defeating them. Now the two pains eyed Naruto himself. It was then that Fu and Hinata came before him.

"Well, they're defeated." Fu commented about the obvious bad news. "Which means it's just us. I managed to recover any spent sage chakra. How are we going to do this?"

"We're going to try to use genjutsu to trap the two." The toad teacher told the kunoichi. "Now, this genjutsu requires an enormous amount of sage chakra. We can do so on two of your shoulders so you can fight while we gather nature energy for you. It'll take a little bit of time before the jutsu gets going."

"Alright. I'll go for the 5 second interval. So when your chakra is ready, just start the genjutsu."

"Remember, you only have one clone left. Once he's gone, you won't be able to use sage jutsu chakra once you run out."

"Why didn't you just make a whole bunch more shadow clones?" Shima questioned.

"At his level of proficiency, two sage chakra making clones was his limit." Fukasaku told his wife.

"And on top of that, I can only create three shadow clones for the battlefield. If I make more, the ones manipulating sage jutsu chakra will get distracted."

"I see." Shima conceded. "Well, either way prolonging this battle isn't to our advantage. Naruto looked to all of the downed paths across the field before looking at the two standing.

"I must say, you are truly strong, Naruto. This is the farthest that Pain has ever been pushed." Deva Path admitted. "But no more. It's over. Universal Pull." He extended his right hand which caused Naruto to fly towards the two paths forcefully, with Preta proceeding to punch him in the stomach before being trapped in a Nelson headlock.

"Naruto!" The two girls cried out.

"We'll end this now." Pain said "Don't worry, I won't kill you. You're a precious jinchuriki, even more above all of the eight. Although, now that I think of it, only you and the seven tails have shown themselves the whole time."

"That's because they left days before you got here. Personal business and such." Naruto explained.

"No matter. If they believe you're still here, then the remaining five will come back, and I'll defeat them as well."

"You think you can just defeat me like this? Don't underestimate sage mode." Naruto chuckled with a clever grin on his face as he stayed still.

"What could you possibly do? Even with all the strength of sage chakra, he'll just absorb it out of you."

"That's what I'm counting on." Once enough has been absorbed, Preta started getting warty and malformed, confusing Deva Path. "You obviously didn't know, but sage energy is really hard to control. Heck, not even I've mastered it completely by this point. But the cons of it will serve me just fine here." Preta's right leg turned into a frog's appendage before turning to stone. Soon, the body turned into a frog statue.

"What is this?"

"Absorb too much sage chakra, and you turn into a statue. Allowing me to do this!" With strained flexing, he broke out of his rock confinement, shattering the stone arms."

"Sage mode chakra. Seems to come with its fair share of risks." The remaining path remarked.

"Well, now its just you." The jinchuriki countered.

"Well, that's not correct. If you count, there were only five paths here. You took down four." Raising his hand, he used universal pull to pull in Fukasaku to attack. Naruto tried to stop him, but he was too slow without sage chakra to prevent what was next. With a thrust of a rod, he stabbed the frog through the chest. Falling to the ground, Naruto got up to counter attack.

"You bastard!"

"Universal pull." Drawing Naruto to him, he grabbed Naruto by the throat and slammed him into the ground. Flipping him around, he put the boy's hands on top of each other before stabbing them with his rod to the ground to keep him pinned there.

"No! Lady Shima, please help me!" Hinata cried out as she ran ahead.

"R-right!" Despite her tremendous loss and excruciating emotional agony, she knew what to do as she jumped on Hinata's shoulders and the two concentrated to link up. Jumping up, Hinata gave a mighty kick that prompted Pain to move back, avoiding where a crater erupted where he stood. When the dust settled, Hinata stood in an offensive position ready to strike.

"You are cruel. Restraining Naruto-kun like this. I'll be your opponent. I won't let you hurt Naruto-kun anymore!"

"Hinata." Fu whispered, staying still as to keep herself fully charged until the right moment.

"You're no jinchuriki, and it appears that your sage mode is flawed, just like Jiraiya-sensei's. You are of no concern to me." Pain stated, totally not interested in the Hyuga girl.

"I may not have a tailed beast, but the Hyuga are the strongest clan in the leaf village, and I have the byakugan!" To demonstrate, the veins around her temples bulged, colored lavender thanks to the sage chakra.

"Thanks Hinata."

"Don't worry. Fu will try to save you while I distract him. We'll both save you. Even if I die, I'm not afraid because I love you. I always have, and I always will." Getting the sentimentalities over with, she took up her signature gentle fist stance. Producing a pike, Pain was prepared to attack or defend, but he was unprepared when she kicked at the piece of metal pinning Naruto down. Before she could do it again, she was pushed away from her love, only to somersault in response, landing on her hands and feet like a frog. Channeling sage chakra into her hands, along with her ninjutsu, the air around her fists started heating up and become wavy. Blue chakra became visible as they took the form of lion heads. "Gentle step: Twin lion fists!" Diving to his left, she threw a flurry of punches that Pain weaved around, the chakra skimming his cloak and thus burning it.

He tried to use Almighty Push, but something made him pause, allowing her to deliver a double handed push into his upper chest, throwing him off balance. Having the upper-hand, the kunoichi sage kept going. Getting up close again, she went low and swipe kicked his feet away, causing him to fall as she jumped to do a windmill punch, ramming her lion fists into his chest, and into his face, crashing him into the ground. Hinata was about to continue when she was pushed by a force field, sending the Hyuga girl flying while yelling in surprise. After rising up over a few hundred feet, her momentum stopped suddenly as she was pulled in by Pain's attraction manipulation. Thinking quick, she formed a hand sign. "Shadow clone jutsu!" Forming two clones, then went back to back as a trio and started spinning around like a top. Unprepared for such a maneuver, Pain jumped out of the way so that the girl trio smashed into the ground, leaving a wide impact and a large dust cloud to erupt. From the smoke, shuriken and a blast of vacuumed air came at Pain. Using almighty push, he dispelled the shuriken before jumping over the vacuum shell, seeing the three running towards him. Producing two rods from his sleeves, he swiftly stabbed the clones, making them poof while Hinata came in hot.

The kunoichi sage threw a fist that Pain dodged, but was blindsided by a kick to his back, leaving him open to a punch to the gut and a back flip kick to his chin. She tried continuing on, but was repelled one more time by his almighty push, sending her reeling, but far from knocked out.

"I'm getting tired of this. If you won't surrender, I just kill everything here except the jinchuriki." Using his power of repulsion, he took to the sky and flew out of the village, heading towards a certain direction. Feeling that the immediate threat was over, she turned to see that Fu managed to get Naruto out of his predicament and ran to them.

"Naruto-kun! Are you okay?"

"Yeah, thanks. I can't use my hands very well, but I'm doing alright." Naruto answered before she hugged him tightly. Naruto happily returned the hug. Fu however wasn't so optimistic.

"Umm... wasn't that too easy? After all that, he just left? Something doesn't seem right."

"Fu-girl is right." The tearful frog on Hinata's shoulder agreed. "Someone like him wouldn't just give up so easily. From above them, the sky briefly turned orange as what appeared to be a total solar eclipse, shining light down at the ground. After that, they were flabbergasted by the fact the solar eclipse started ripping the terrain a good distance from the leaf crater. Boulders, trees, hills and cliffs, even a small mountain were all removed from the surface of the Earth to gradually create a sphere of earth, big enough to fill the crater they were standing in and then some. As if seeing it wasn't enough, it started moving towards them, slowly getting bigger as like a comet, the mass gaining a rapid amount of speed caused the air around it to heat up, making the mountain ball look like a disaster level asteroid that could wipe out many miles surrounding the hidden leaf. While everybody looked horrified by this incoming meteor, Hinata never quivered as she said,

"Fu, get everybody that you can. Bring them here. I'll protect everyone."

"Hinata, there's no way anybody could-."

"Just do it!" Hinata cut her off, surprised by her outburst. With reluctance, the female jinchuriki sprouted wings and flew as fast as she could to gather everybody.

"Hinata, what are you doing?" Naruto asked his friend.

"Don't worry about me. Just stick close to me and everything will be alright." She

"Hinata, you're starting to scare me here." He urged. By now, Fu was fulfilling Hinata's request as people, alive or dead, started surrounding them while they were struggling to keep up with how they moved so quickly.

"Wha-Naruto? Hinata? What's going on?" Sakura asked them when she spotted her close friends. among the people, Ko approached Hinata.

"Lady Hinata, are you alright?"

"I am fine Ko. I have a plan." She reassured him. Even Team Guy was swept up and found themselves.

"What?! What the hell happened here?! And what in the holy Heavens is that coming straight at us?!" Guy and Lee questioned in sheer shock at how their home became a smoking, dusty crater.

"Hinata? Is that you? You have acquired this sage chakra the Hokage briefed with us?" Neji inquired to Hinata.

"Yes, and it'll help me save everyone."

"What do you mean? He asked, his eyes filling with worry. She turned to him with an eerie serene smile.

"Don't worry. I can do it. With the impending doom approaching them, everybody was starting to really panic as they were being kept in what appeared to be the epicenter of the collision. When the atmosphere around them started heating up due to how close it was, Fu came up to Hinata.

"That's everybody, but what on Earth are you fucking planning?!" She questioned the kunoichi freaking the hell out.

"You'll see. it's time." Calming down from her hidden terror underneath her façade, she took the gentle fist signature stance and saw the eight trigrams insignia appear around her.

"Sage Art: Gentle Fist: Protective Eight Trigrams Two-Hundred-Fifty-Six Palms." It was then that the meteor hit the ground, causing the border walls of the village to be blown away and the surrounding area wiped out by both the heat and the shockwave from such a massive impact. For three minutes, it was like hell on Earth surrounding the earth made asteroid, disrupting the landscape and even moving the clouds from their positions in the sky, clearly leaving nothing destroyed, if not moved in the very least. When it finally seems to have calmed down when the Earth stopped moving, the Pain observed the masterpiece he put into that, sure that he squandered any resistance that may have been left in that god forsaken area. But something happened that he totally did not expect. The mountain sized sphere not only, very suddenly get a net shaped pattern from within, it even exploded in said manner as square, rectangle and diamond shaped boulders rained from the sky, littering rocks literally everywhere.

From the center, stood the Hyuga girl who managed to basically swipe away everything that came in contact with her palms out of existence, saving everyone when they ducked and covered. Her arms were sleeveless from the sheer friction alone and moderately burnt from moving her hands over a dozen times faster than sound. Panting and sweating quite heavily, her sage mode wore off as she collapsed on the ground, caught by Naruto and Fu.

"Whoa. Now that was insane. It was like looking at the inside of my rasenshuriken."

"I didn't think she could move her arms that fast. But I couldn't see them at all. Hinata? Are you okay?" The female jinchuriki asked her fellow sage. Hinata could barely keep here eyes open as she looked to her right. Very weakly, she pointed at the direction she sensed the path going. West.

"Painnn." She whispered, barely saying the word before her hand dropped, and her chakra signature vanished.

"Oh my no. Hinata-girl." Shima gasped as she hopped off of the deceased girl's shoulder.

"Hey, Hinata. Hinata! Wake up, please! Please wake up!" Naruto shook her, trying in vain to awaken her. Fu couldn't believe it. Hinata sacrificed herself to save everyone. Even the corpses left behind. Grinding her teeth, the jinchuriki determined not to let Pain get away with this. Getting up, she looked toward the direction that Pain went. With a roar, she zoomed in that direction. Going to the limits of hyperspeed, this Mach cone traveling kunoichi knew who what to hit. In spite of her wavering sage chakra, there was still one more attack she could do to him.

Pain was having trouble comprehending what just happened.

"What was that? How could it just explode like that? How could-" He didn't get to finish because the next thing he registered was a Mach 10 kick to the ribs, thanks to one extremely fast jinchuriki kunoichi, whom smiled savagely from landing such a devastating blow. The two blew past the surviving nature until they smashed right through a particularly tall and thick tree. Once everything stopped flying, nothing looked good. Fu laid on her back, unconscious from the painful recoil that just came about from kicking through a tree at such an extreme speed, evident in her right leg bent 45 degrees the wrong way, clearly mangled. As for Pain... he couldn't move. He was still conscious, unlike the girl, but with his ribcage nothing but dust, his upper spine destroyed entirely, and his upper internal organs turned into paste that shot out of his mouth from impact, there was no way he was recovering at all.

It took some time before Naruto in his sage mode could find them following the path of destruction, but he immediately noted when he saw the injured Fu.

"Fu! Are you alright, please don't be dead! Please! Don't leave me too." Naruto cried into her chest, not wanting to experience two deaths of those he came to love romantically.

"She's not dead." Pain told the grieving jinchuriki. He looked up at the useless vessel as his eyes gazed upon his lost goal. "I could see her breathing the entire time."

"Why... Pain?" Naruto asked the crippled Akatsuki. "Why did you do any of this for a world of peace. Jiraiya-sensei would never have approved this."

"Considering all of my body abled paths are out of commission now, I'll tell you." The Path obliged. "Go to the top of that tree, and you'll know the truth." Naruto turned to look at the top of the tree which looked suspiciously dead amongst the living trees, wondering what was there. Creating a shadow clone to take Fu back to the destroyed village, the original climbed up the tree to find an opening. Moving to the top, he found what looked like just just the interior that you would find in any other tree. But after planting his feet on it and walking across it, he noticed that it didn't sound solid, but rather hollow. Looking around, he noticed that the center rings were gone. Jumping down them, he landed right in the center where he found the real pain. But what he saw, he didn't expect. This one was skeletal, and had dozens of those black things in his back. He was connected to a large mechanism which itself was connected to a large statue. But that didn't matter. He found Pain, with no means of escape.

"So... the peacemaker comes stumbling in at last. Tell me, do you hate me? I'm the object of your vendetta. Do you wish to exact vengeance on me? Killing me would achieve nothing, as it would break the cycle of hatred that the Akatsuki tried fighting against. You don't know the answer to peace like I do. So do the right thing and sacrifice yourself to me, and to the peace I will construct." From his mechanism, a black rod fired from Pain and impaled Naruto in the chest.

"From this distance, I can even control living people with these receivers in their bodies. I have complete control over your body. I avoided vital spots, because you're valuable to me, jinchuriki." But Pain was not prepared to not only feel Naruto's chakra, but a combination of sage mode and the tailed beasts combined force stupefying him, leaving him overwhelmed.

"I came... to talk to you." Naruto uttered, his rage imminent in his voice. "But now that I'm here, the urge to kill you is so bad. Standing before the true enemy, I don't know if I want to listen. I can't forgive you! I want to kill you so bad I can't stop shaking!" With his strength, he pulled out the receiver, and went on the attack when he remembered something Jiraiya-sensei talked about, something Pain tried preaching. He stopped himself before he could follow through. "But Pervy Sage said that the day would come where everybody could understand one another. To tell you the truth, I wasn't paying attention to what he was saying. He said he would pass on his quest to me. I was just excited he was complimenting me as his student. I think I better understand what he was saying, but the differences of peace between the two of you are so off.

"Jiraiya's reflect in idealism from an era that's long gone. Reality is too different. I thought you said you wanted to kill me. Those are just empty words. All you want is to exact your own personal revenge. If that's your idea of justice, so be it. You're not god. Well, what is it going to be? Kill me, or listen to my story that you asked first? Hear how I came to be and have such radically different ideas for peace?"

"Thinking about it, we are sibling students. I do actually want to ask you something." Naruto said as he deactivated sage mode and the tailed beast chakra. "Please tell me your story. What happened? You weren't like the other Akatsuki who just wanted to kill us for the thrill of it. Those guys I could understand because their motivations were shallow and easy. But I don't know anything about you. I need to hear your story before I can truly decide."

"Very well. I'll tell you about my pain. At first, you may think that killing me and brining peace to the world would be noble, as it is justice. However, what about everything I cared for? Family? Friends? My village? They have suffered at the hands of every major village because of the war. Why should only the biggest preach about peace and justice while everything else is destroyed as collateral damage? The lands waged war and profited off of it to feed themselves. In response, my land became one of the heaviest hit battle fields of the five nations. Every fight laid to waste of our country. As time passed, the great nations stabilized, while mine suffered. It was barely able to recover. We both want to achieve peace that Jiraiya envisioned. You and I are the same. We're both motivated by our desire for peace and justice. But what I did to the village is no different to if you killed me. Everybody loses something dear to them. We both experienced that pain. We strive for our own perception of justice. We're just men prettying up petty vengeance so that it looks more like honorable retribution. That is the cycle of hatred of the shinobi world. Right now we live in such a cycle. I know the past and can foretell the future is the same as our history. I believe human beings can never understand each other, and never will. Our world is ruled by hatred, and hatred alone." Naruto started to feel sympathy for the war torn person standing before him.

As for me personally, when I was just a young boy named Nagato, my parents were killed in the war because we were in the way of Konoha shinobi. And then I killed them in my rage. I was an orphan who wandered the streets while starving. I soon found a dog I could call my own, and while we starved, that was the day Konan found me and brought me to a hide out where a boy named Yahiko. They resorted to thievery to survive, because they were orphans just like me. Yahiko had a dream; to become god and eradicate war and poverty. At that point, we were caught in the line of fire between Hanzo the Salamander and the three sannin. Our dog died. Eventually, we found the sannin. Jiraiya offered to take care of us and raise us as his students. Even though I despised Jiraiya because he was a Konoha ninja, I eventually found to have accepted him as my master. Jiraiya believed that with my power, I was the reincarnation of the sage of six paths. He believed that I had the power to help the world achieve peach and understanding. When we were old enough to survive on our own, he left us, believing we were self-sufficient enough.

For some time, we recruited Rain ninja to eventually form what would eventually become the Akatsuki, as a way to find eternal peace for the war. But apparently people wanted to keep the status quo, because Hanzo wanted to meet us for an arrangement, only for it to be an ambush between him and one of your commanders, Danzo Shimura. Konan was held captive and I had to kill Yahiko to set us free. He willingly killed himself with my kunai, wanting me to protect Konan and be the savior of the world. Since I didn't directly kill him, Hanzo wanted to kill us anyway, so I summoned the demonic statue of the Outer Path to kill everyone, though Danzo escaped. From then on, I am how you see me as now, and I knew using peace to achieve peace would never save this world. And that is my story." Naruto looked down to his feet sadly, now fully understanding where he was coming from.

"I owe Yahiko my life. He gave me my dream. He was an irreplaceable friend whom I would've given everything. Yahiko's loss was my second great pain. Since then, countless allies have fought and died in battle. So many others. One by one. They kept dying. The peace obsessed citizens of your land of fire, they payed a small concession to the hidden leaf, adding to the war fund. And the citizens of the land of fire, knowing full well of the truth still falsely proclaim peace. But the peace your large nations enjoy only exists because of the sacrifices forced upon smaller nations. What you call peace is violence against us. For some to live in peace, others have to die in war. As long as humanity exists, hatred exists with it. True peace is impossible. Not in a world as cursed as this one. All that Jiraiya said about peace was more than wishful thinking!" Pain, or rather Nagato started to weakly yell. "Now, I've told you everything. Let us hear your response." While Naruto didn't say anything, he did take a book out from his jacket and looked at it. 'Tales of a Gutsy Ninja.'

"You may be right, Nagato. Right now, I think the same way you do. But even if I understand you now, that doesn't change how I feel. There's no way I can forgive you. I still hate you." He stated outright, his voice filled with venom and spite.

"Then you want to settle things with me?"

"I do, but Pervy Sage believed in me, and wanted me to continue his quest. For those reasons, I choose to believe in him and what he taught me. That's my answer. That's why I won't kill you." The jinchuriki.

"After everything that has happened, you still believe in Jiraiya-sensei's teachings? Very well then. You've given your answer. And you expect us to wait until you somehow magically transform this world into a peaceful place?" The Akatsuki member asked skeptically. "No, never!" He denied, getting visibly angry. "How can I believe in Jiraiya's words after all of this! There will never be true peace! Now as long as we live in this cursed world! Peace is impossible!" After taking that in, Naruto raised his chin high.

"Well then, I'll just find a way to break this curse. If there's such thing as true peace in this world, I'll find it somehow! I'll never stop looking!" That declaration rang through Nagato's conscience right then, making him gasp.

"You... those words. It can't be."

"That's right. Everything I just said came from this book. Tales of a gutsy ninja. The very first novel Pervy Sage ever wrote. He was seriously trying to change the world with his message. In the back, he wrote about a student that provided him with inspiration. It was you, Nagato." This truly unsettle the crippled man.

"But..." He began to remember back in the days Jiraiya was his sensei, when they were talking about solving hatred, wanting to break it. And when Jiraiya left them. And finally, when he read that book so long ago. ("You... are the savior of this world.")

"The name of the hero. His name is Naruto."

"Listen, my name is a heirloom that was passed down to me by my master." Naruto stated. "There's no way I'm going to give up on my master's gift. I will become Hokage, and I will bring peace to the hidden rain. Now I just ask you to believe in me." After a few seconds, Nagato replied,

"Why should I? How can you stand there saying you will never change your mind? Do you think you'll stand by that no matter how much pain befalls you? You think you'll always believe in yourself? Can you guarantee that? How can you possibly have so much faith that life won't change you?!" Pain snarled.

"You're not the only one who's felt pain. Ignored by my village, fighting my best friend, almost killing Sakura, finding out Pervy Sage was dead, learning my best friend died." While he was listing off, Naruto gripped his stomach area. "There's still pain... deep down inside me. If I stopped believing just because things became difficult, if the hero in this book changed who he is, then it would become a whole different story. It wouldn't be what our master left behind. It wouldn't be Naruto. The thing is, I'm not a writer. So the sequel will be the life I live. That's why no matter how much pain my life brings, I'll keep walking. Because that's who Naruto is." The Uzumaki answered, Nagato's eyes opening wide before closing.

"If the hero ever changes, it'll be a different story." Pain repeated. "We are sibling students. We ought be able to understand each other. When I said that earlier, I meant it as a joke. You really are a curious fellow. You remind me of myself when I was younger. I wasn't able to continue believing, nor could I keep believing in myself. But you give me a vision of a future that shows a different path from the one I walked." He took his hands out of the machine. "I think I'll believe in you after all, Naruto Uzumaki." He raised his hands to perform a hand sign. "I'll perform Gedo Art of Rinne Rebirth."

"Wait, what's that jutsu?" He asked, starting to get worried. From the Konoha crater where everybody was, waiting for some news, were surprised to find a giant hellish face appear from the ground in front of them all, being as tall as a building. Opening it's tall, thin mouth, it showered those who were right in front of it, along with those scattered scattered around the edge with teal colored light. Those that the light touched glowed for a few seconds before waking up, even though they were confirmed dead. Fukasaku, Shizune, Kakashi, and all the other leaf ninja and citizens. As a result, all the red color in Nagato's hair became white. Katsuyu crawled out of Naruto's robe.

"Naruto, more and more of the villagers are coming back from the dead."

"What?" He gasped, looking at the slug, then to Nagato.

"I still have time to revive those I killed since I arrived in the leaf village. It's the least I can do for them. War inflicts death and pain on everyone. The truth is... the more precious someone is to us, the harder it is to accept for us they might die. Sometimes... you're convinced there's no way they could die. It can't be helped. Especially with a generation like yours. A generation that does not know war. You might try to find meaning in war, but all there is is loss, and unbearable pain. All that death unleashes a cycle of hatred that never ends. War creates only more war. Those are things in the future you will face, Naruto." Nagato weakly smiled and chuckled. "It almost feels like someone set it up, you and that book. Like an actual god. This is it for me. Naruto, I believe of all people that you can." He uttered his final words before aiming his palms towards his eyes, and produced two finals rods that pierced his eyes, destroying them. He slumped forward, finally dead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Wow. This is the second longest chapter I have ever written. Well, I certainly did things differently. I thought about what sage enhanced gentle fist fighting would be like, ramping up her prowess thanks to sage mode with tailed beast enhancement. How did you like Fu's super bright sage powder scales? I saw a video of a room with one of those light bulbs. I literally couldn't see anything at full power. I also liked how she kicked Pain at the highest level of hyperspeed, which rounds out at around Mach 10. Even with something weighing even just 115 lbs. approximately, that should still be quite a lot of tons moving almost 3X faster than a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. I hope I did this chapter justice to the hype. Thank you for sticking with me on this for song long. Sayonara.


	13. Almost the End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second to last chapter

Naruto was walking back to the village after creating his own personal memorial for Jiraiya-sensei with a stone, three kunai, and his first book. He was sore and panting, and could feel himself giving way to gravity before landing on something. He reopened his eyes to realize that Kakashi caught him and was providing a piggy back ride.

"Good job." He said simply, but Naruto smiled since he heard the proudness in those two words.

"Kakashi-sensei." He sighed, relieved that he was alive.

"Stay still, I'll carry you." The gentle smile on Naruto's face grew bigger as he was assisted back. Naruto's eyes opened again, unaware he fell asleep most of the way, when he started hearing the stray cheers of people. He looked up woozily to see the whole village cheering for him, calling his name and clapping in celebration. It was a whole sea of both shinobi and citizens of the hidden leaf. His face said it all; disbelief. He was having trouble processing this many people saying his name in extreme positivity.

"They have been waiting for you to return. They were even let down when your shadow clone dissipated when Fu was brought back here. Naruto, you did well." Kakashi said, letting his student off gently. The people couldn't contain themselves anymore since they ran past the ninja keeping them at bay when he was on his feet.

"What is this?" He asked, totally unprepared for this outcome. Katsuyu slithered out of his clothes and onto his shoulder.

"I've already relayed to everyone every detail that transpired between you and Pain." She answered. All the kids gathered around his legs asking him questions in a fit of excitement.

"Naruto!" A familiar voice cried out. He looked up to the sky to see Fu flying in, her right leg in a cast but otherwise looked none the worse as she scooped him up and hugged him dearly. "I'm so glad you're safe and okay." He looked down and noticed Hinata in the crowd, smiling despite both of her arms heavily bandaged. Sakura also walked out of the crowd, staring at him with an intense gaze.

"Hey Fu, let me down please?" He asked his fellow jinchuriki. She obliged as he landed on his feet one foot off the ground as she hovered in the air. "Hey Sakura. Hinata."

"You're just so reckless. You idiot!" Sakura insulted as she beamed him in the head. Since he didn't have the energy to recover, he fell into her arms without a whine of pain. She then propped his head on her shoulder. "Thank you." Hinata smiled from this, though Fu was somewhat annoyed she punched her boyfriend in the head.

"You really did it Naruto." Rock Lee acknowledged.

"Yes, now that is youth is all about." Might Guy agreed with his protégé.

"I can't believe he pulled it off by himself." Shikamaru said in pleased disbelief while he was supported by Choji.

"That Naruto, he's real something all right." Kiba commented. "He was my classmate, you know."

"But he really outclassed us all." Shino pointed out.

"Can it, will ya? We'll just work harder from now on." As the comments, compliments and disbelief continued, Naruto was surrounded by his friends and everybody else as they threw him up into the air in celebration, putting a huge smile on his face. However, the joy of everybody stopped when a black portal appeared during one of the throws. From it, Tobi came out and snagged the boy right from the air, landing on his feet with the jinchuriki in his clutches, a kunai to his throat.

"Naruto!" All his friends and teachers yelled out while the orange clad boy tried escaping, but he was too drained. He spoke to his hostage in the most vile, hate filled voice he could muster.

"You. You have ruined everything. Everything that I have planned for the past 16 years. Your family killed off most of the strongest of the Akatsuki, you killed Sasuke Uchiha, and you robbed me everything Pain was supposed to give me. My plan for peace in the world is in shambles. If I cannot have my world, I'll kill you, and then myself so that I can escape this false reality, and rob it of it's hero that just saved them."

"Hey creep!" Fu called out to the last standing Akatsuki. "You better let him go, or-"

"I will do no such thing!" He strongly refused. "None of you get it! I tried to execute the perfect plan to get rid of all the hate, all the death, all the despair and agony and suffering of this world, and this damn jinchuriki has made my efforts worthless! If I cannot create the perfect world, I might as well kill the person who destroyed my plans before leaving this false reality."

"I don't think so." A deep voice called out as a wall of sand separated Naruto from Tobi as it formed a hand to catch the terrorist in a strong grip, making sure he couldn't escape. He looked to his right to see Gaara, along his two sand siblings and Yugito Nii on a sand cloud. The citizens and ninja were surprised to see Gaara of the Sand Village come to Naruto's aide. "So... you're one of those last Akatsuki that attacked us at our home." From a distance, a large noise interrupted them all when they saw a five tailed horse carrying the rest of Naruto's family and leaf assist jumping from the edge of the destroyed city, landing near the center freaking everybody out when Kokuo reverted back to Han Zenpoe.

"Hey guys." Naruto sighed in relief while Fu took him away from the dangerous man.

"We saw that... thing in the sky a while back on our island. We came as soon as we could, but it appears everything has been neutralized now." Han observed.

"Yeah! We helped save the hidden leaf! Even though the village itself is destroyed."

"Another jinchuriki? Why is he here?" One of the people in the crowd questioned, terrified from the sudden appearance of one of those tailed beasts. While this was all happening, Tobi phased through the sand coffin and leapt away from everybody, gaining distance.

"Great. Not only do I fail in killing you, but the rest of your jinchuriki family is here. You're all lucky I don't have the nine-tails at my beck and call! I will be back to settle the score. I will kill each and every last one of you even if its slitting all your throats in your sleep! Sleep well tonight, people of the hidden leaf and jinchuriki, because this is not the last you. Have. Seen. Of. Me." He emphasized before teleporting away, vowing revenge. Everybody was deathly quiet not just because of the threat, but also the fact that some of the arrivals were jinchuriki. Everybody was backing away from members of the family that didn't save them before a voice called out.

"Wait!" From the crowd, Shizune stepped out from them and addressed them. "People of Konoha! There is something that you must know! These people, even though they are jinchuriki, are good people! They came here with Naruto when they needed Lady Hokage's help! If they were bad people, Naruto would've been able to band together the jinchuriki that had grudges against their villages and attacked us! But no, even in Lady Tsunade's watchful eye, all they did was show concern and love for the young boy!"

"I can attest to this!" Kakashi yelled out, walking to Shizune's side. "When Naruto and Sakura fought me to show their growth, I was in the presence of seven jinchuriki, but they never made an aggressive move against me!"

"I can attest too!" Sakura shouted, standing in between Shizune and Kakashi. "For eight days they have lived in the Hokage estate in secret! And yet they have behaved like model patients! They have obeyed our rules, never stepped out of line, and expressed love for a boy that isn't part of their native land or village! Heck, Roshi, Han and Utakata come from the Stone and Mist villages but they have been quite friendly and helpful! Not only have they not chosen to attack the village, they and Jiraiya the sannin helped Naruto become the man he is that saved this village from Pain! If you want to be prejudiced, fine, but take this into account; You shun the jinchuriki, then you shun Naruto, and his friends who saved you! And I stand by him and his adoptive family!" She declared as she walked to all the gathered jinchuriki and others of the family.

"Me too!" Kakashi agreed as he went to stand by her.

"Me too!" Hinata agreed in a growing solidarity as not only she took their side in both senses, but also Asuma, Anko, Tenten and Shizune. A few of the people started to clap one at a time when an old voice silenced those who would've done further.

"What utter nonsense!" Danzo objected as he got in front of the crowd. "We cannot allow such things to go unpunished! By housing these... beasts in the estate, the Hokage has essentially allowed seven time bombs into our walls! Look at what's happened! This Pain terrorist came here because that Uzumaki brat came here! A leader that has allowed such a travesty to happen is not fit to serve as Kage! We banished Uzumaki because he was a jinchuriki, and now there's more of them here! They have no right!" He then turned to the family and those who were standing with him. "Under the authority of Konohagakure, leave our village, along with all those who stand by you, and never come back!" However, after a bit of silence that soon became awkward, Naruto stood up and stared back into his partially cloth covered face.

"Actually, Pain told me something interesting about you." He then pointed at the man. "Pain told me you are directly responsible for creating him."

"How absurd! I would never associate myself with a terrorist! How dare you make such a stupid accusation!" He denied fiercely.

"Oh really? Something Kakashi-sensei and Pervy Sage both once told me that dying men have no need to lie. He told me his whole life story, and he told me that Hanzo the Salamander and Danzo here betrayed Pain and killed his best friend in the process before trying to kill him! If anyone is to blame, it's Danzo! He's the one who created Pain in the first place!" This was creating quite the unsettlement in between choosing one of the villages elder's or the heroes of the village.

"Oh come the fuck on! Are you really going to believe these enemy jinchuriki?! Only I know what's best for you all and this village! I value your safety above all else, and nothing should endanger that!"

"Oh really?" Shizune spoke out. "I remember something about finding a forgotten file that says how you went to the Hidden Rain Village. Sure, it was heavily redacted, but apparently 17 years ago, you went there for reasons unknown. I don't know if it's because of a slip up or it was intentionally went there, you going there at around the same time when the Akatsuki went from a peace advocation organization to terrorist group adds up! You had a hand in this!" Realizing this, the crowd started to riot that one of their elders had a hand in causing the destruction of their village.

"Hey! Hey, that is just a coincidence! I'd never betray the leaf!" But his words fell on deaf ears when Anbu ninja surrounded him, along with Kakashi, Guy, Asuma and Anko.

"Danzo Shimura, I hereby place you under arrest for conspiracy and inadvertently causing mass destruction!" Shizune declared while he tried to remove the cloth around his eye but was cast under a genjutsu by Kakashi while Guy kicked Danzo in the back hard enough to snap the spine, rendering him him incapacitated and crippled. Everybody cheered as the Anbu took him away.

"Heh, not only have we saved the village, we actually avenged the guy who did it." Naruto chuckled.

"Yeah. Sounds like something Jiraiya would write in his books." Kakashi commented.

"So... what do we do now?" One of the citizens asked, confused for what's supposed to happen next.

"We rebuild." Shizune determined. "We rebuild, we wait for Lady Tsunade to wake up, and then we throw a party for Naruto, Hinata and Fu who saved this village!" With that, everybody celebrated the plan. And thus, overtime, Konoha was slowly rebuilt. While the jinchuriki were kept in secret to the hidden villages, they were still able to help the process with their unique abilities. What happened to Danzo? Well, only the interrogation group truly knows and won't tell anybody. When Tsunade eventually recovered, she gave the jinchuriki family unofficial protection under the power of Konoha and decided to help rebuild Kemonogakure when the hidden leaf has recovered enough.

One day, Naruto, and everybody part of his adoptive family were watching the sunset from the top of Hokage's Rock. Naruto sat in the middle with Gaara, Temari, Kankuro, Yugito and Fu surrounding him while Roshi, Han, Utakata and Hotaru stayed around back near the trees.

"Wow. This is... nice." Naruto remarked, taking in the fact that he was beloved by everyone in the village.

"That's the understatement of the year." Kankuro sarcastically jested.

"I'm so glad you are back in the braces of your home." Yugito said sincerely.

"Although, I'm not too sure about the people. They only revere you as a hero because you saved them, along with Fu and Hinata. It's not like they took you in from something they came to themselves. I don't know."

"Yeah, you do bring up a good point. Perhaps this is something I can bring up with Sakura and Granny, but at least for now, I want to enjoy the moment."

"Yeah Naruto." Fu agreed. "Enjoy being in your birth village and hanging with friends. Don't let details bog you down."

"I'm not. I will take the time to really appreciate this. All of this." Naruto affirmed as he took Gaara and Temari in each arm bringing them together. "This is the best."  
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A/N: And there we go. While there is one more chapter, it will be more like an epilogue where it's going to be filled with romance between Naruto and his romantic partners. My first series done. It feels so satisfying. I think I gave it a good ending. Hopefully not too sweet or cheesy. Thank goodness I know some to try avoiding that but still. Thank you for reading, and this has been Jinchuriki Family. Sayonara.


	14. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Well, as promised. The last chapter of Jinchuriki Family as a whole. This will cover how Naruto, Fu, Gaara and Hinata will handle their first date. I hope this does good enough. I don't know how long it took to completely fix Konoha after the Pain Assault, but from what I assume, I think it's somewhere in between the beginning of the Fourth Shinobi World War Arc and before The Last Naruto movie. So this could take place anywhere in that time span. Also, does Sakura ever quit the Ino-Pig and Billboard-Brow thing? Is that in Shippuden or not since I don't have time to watch filler episodes. I can get rid of them if it's unnecessary. Anyway, let's begin.

"So Naruto, how are you feeling with this... date?" Roshi asked, happy for his adoptive nephew if a little hesitant just on the unusualness of the situation. All the men of the family were hanging in Naruto's apartment getting Naruto and Gaara ready.

"Well, I feel really nervous. I feel like I'll look stupid, given how often that happens in social situations." The young jinchuriki replied, sweating a bit as he was putting on a black haori jacket with a mesh undershirt.

"Relax, Naruto." Gaara tried reassuring. He wore a dark red haori jacket with, a little darker than blood, with a black undershirt. He didn't wear his sand gourd and his red hair was combed so that it was orderly. "Hinata is a nice girl. That's the reason we're doing this in the first place."

"Yeah. Maybe once we meet up with the girls, I'll calm down a bit." Naruto reasoned.

"Right. And besides, even if you were to act like a total buffoon, there's no way you could ruin this date given the people you're going out with." Utakata rationalized, even if it was a little backhanded.

"Gee, thanks Utakata." Naruto chuckled as he thanked him sarcastically. "It's just that, it's not one girl I have to be perfect with; it's three! And all three are quite important not just to me, but everybody related! My adoptive sand siblings, Takigakure, and the Hyuga Clan! You have to admit, this is a lot of pressure."

"It is indeed... unorthodox, this date is." Han agreed. He had to sit on Naruto's futon because he was too tall.

"Oh come on, Naruto." Kankuro groaned as he rolled his eyes. "When has lack of experience and expectations ever stopped you? You managed to beat out Jiraiya when it comes to sage mode in no time at all compared to him, as you said. Sure, you're a dunce, but you have the ability to impress people with your resolve."

"Yeah, you're right on that. I shouldn't give up on this." Naruto affirmed as he raised his fist, pumped up for action.  
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As for the women, the group of four were at the estate in one of the guest rooms. Temari, Yugito and Hotaru were making sure that Fu was perfectly beautiful for her literally big date.

"Oh man, I'm so excited! I just want to kiss those adorable little cheeks of those two boys." Fu squeaked with excitement.

"I'm so glad that Gaara has found love. Though I wasn't expecting it from three people and a boy in the mix." Temari commented, but was smiling all the same for her brother, and for Fu giving him that opportunity.

"Perhaps I should find a guy myself. I've just entered my 30's the past couple of years. Maybe even give Naruto another father figure to look up to." Yugito pondered out loud, wondering about a possible love life."

"But, we must remember; even if all of us catch us a man, we still maintain our womanly friendship bond and not grow too dependent on them even if we love them." Hotaru proclaimed, flipping her hair back.

"Agreed." All the women said with a nod while giggling to themselves.

"Aaaand we're done!" Temari declared as the women stepped back to let Fu stare back at her prettied up self. Her mint hair was pulled back into a short ponytail with her bangs kept at bay with orange pins. The young kunoichi wore a teal kimono with blue flowers decorating it, her midsection wrapped up in a orange obi. Her cheeks were flushed with light pink and her eyes had orange eyeliner applied.

"You look so beautiful dear." Yugito complimented with a sincere smile.

"OMG, I am so jealous of you. If only Utakata would just profess to me." Hotaru sighed, thinking about romantic scenarios. Fu's grin went as big as it could go.

"Yeah, I'm going to knock their socks off... if they decide to wear socks that is." Fu chuckled weakly, throwing herself off with that idea.  
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You know, there probably isn't too much work for us to do." Ino made observations looking over Hinata. Hinata, Ino, Sakura and Tenten were in a clothing store "You've got good hair, you've got a fabulous face... probably the only thing necessary is a wardrobe change."

"Really? Are you sure?" Hinata asked the Yamanaka girl, unsure about her looks. Ino grinned.

"I'm certain. Don't you gals agree?" She questioned the two other girls.

"Yeah. You're beautiful, Hinata." Sakura admitted wholeheartedly.

"As far as I can tell, there's no flaw on your body." Tenten added.

"But, there is one thing that completes your absolutely beautiful figure."

"You all mean that? What is it?"

"Seriously? Your breasts, Hinata! Flaunt those things out for your boys." Ino laughed while making sure to be sincere, resulting in Hinata blushing heavily. This outraged the other two kunoichi.

"What are you saying, Ino-Pig?! I get looked at by all the guys and you don't see me with melons on my chest!" Sakura screeched.

"Yeah! I don't need huge boobs to be a weapons specialist!" Tenten argued.

"The point is, Hinata, you need to be confident. I'm not saying be a floozy and push them into everything. Just don't be afraid to show your feminine charms when necessary. You're a woman, after all." Having gotten that out of the way, she then turned to Sakura angrily. "And what was that, Billboard-Brow?! The reason they look at you is because you're a second Tsunade?!" While they bickered, Tenten slipped away from the potential cat fight and pushed Hinata away from them.

"Anyway, let's just find you a dress. Something maybe a little revealing but still mostly conservative. And definitely in a color that compliments your eyes.  
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As agreed at around twilight, the four met up in the middle of Konoha from each of the compass directions; Fu from the North, Naruto from the South, Gaara from the West, and Hinata from the east. When they inspected each other closely, they all grinned in varying sizes.

"Yep! You boys look real touched up. The jackets give you a larger than advertised look." Fu approved as she placed an arm around Hinata while giving the boys a thumbs up. Hinata blushed from her physical contact but nodded in agreement.

"Y-yes. You look very handsome."

"Hehe, thanks. It feels weird wearing these though" Naruto chuckled, scratching his head while looking at Hinata's kimono. It was deep dark purple with white flowers adorning the color with a black obi around her midsection, which slightly hugged the curve of her chest. "You look quite... attractive. Both of you."

"You two do look nice." Gaara added with his compliment.

"Well then, how about we take a stroll across town? See what the night has in store for us?" Naruto inquired with excitement and anticipation as he pumped his fist in the air. The other three agreed as they went to their first destination. For once, they didn't go to Ichiraku's but rather Yakiniku Q since it had more of a restaurant feel to it then a stand. Once seated at one of the more fancier tables because of Naruto's reputation. When the waiter came to take their order, he said,

"Since Naruto is with you, he gets his meal for free this once, and each of you gets a half-off discount this once. Now, may I take your order?"

"Alright! I'll have the short ribs and Harami." Naruto said with joy clear in his voice.

"I'll have the beef tongue, the butabara and shrimp." Fu ordered.

"I'll just have the hatsu with barbeque sauce and water." Gaara said simply.

"And I'll have the Misuji with chicken and carrots." Hinata finished for them.

"Drinks?" He asked further. In respective of Naruto, Fu and Hinata, they said,

"Orange juice."

"Your best soda."

"Milk and water."

"I'll be back with your orders." The waiter bowed as he went off. Naruto just couldn't help looking at Hinata and Fu. Under the lamp light, their skin color really showed contrast between being a pretty pale and beautifully tanned. He then looked at Gaara... and wondered why he didn't have a tan at all despite living in the desert for most of his life.

"Hey Gaara, how come you don't have a tan? Don't people who're exposed to sun a lot generally have darker skin pigment?"

"Simple. I stayed out of direct sunlight for most of my childhood. People saw me less. I kept hurting people." He answered, a little sadly.

"Yeesh. Moving from that subject, I got my well earned tan from plenty of sun-bathing. It really is quite relaxing." The female jinchuriki sighed happily while looking at her hand with her nails painted red. "So Hinata, were you born with those eyes or did they actually have normal color before going light lavender?"

"Most of the Hyuga Clan are born with the Byakugan, but there is the rare occurrence that someone is born with normal eyes before it changes. I was born with mine." The Hyuga Heiress answered.

"Okay. I think you're eyes would've been blue like Naruto."

"R-really?" She asked, unsure about that. Naruto lightly chuckled to that.

"Heh, that would be funny, huh? We'd have matching eyes."

"Yeah." Hinata whispered, nodding with a small smile.

"But at least Hinata has a reason for her unique eyes. Not only do you have a tan, you have orange eyes and mint hair." Gaara pointed out. "Not many people have that kind of distinction." Fu laughed wholeheartedly at that.

"And good thing too. Fu Dainana is a one of a kind, baby." She gave a peace sign along with her cheerful response. It was then that they each had their foods delivered to them, all thanking the waiters and waitresses for doing their job.

"Hey, I got an idea." Naruto spoke up as he raised his glass up. "To Fu and her complete uniqueness!"

"To Fu!" They all cheered before Fu replied in return,

"And to Naruto, Hinata and I for saving the village!" All cheered again before chowing down on their respective meals while putting some on the grills to wait while cooking. At around halfway through the dinner, Gaara resumed their conversation.

"So, tell me again, how did you and Hinata get together so that this four way date is possible? I remember for the most part but something is eluding my mind on it." Hinata blushed and looked away while Naruto swallowed some of his rib, thinking hard about it.

"Hmm... Hinata and I went to the waterfall one late night. I asked her to be my girlfriend, she fainted before saying yes once she woke up, and then we did some stargazing, pointing out constellations. She was a little surprised about you two but she didn't want to have us make tough decisions so Hinata went along with it nonetheless. It was one of the best nights of my life." Hinata's smile grew with each passing sentence.

"Hm. I guess I was mistaken on misremembering something. I knew all that." Gaara shrugged as he continued eating his hatsu.

"It was the happiest day of my life." Hinata said, her smile utterly apparent.

"Yeah, I remember that too. Temari, Hotaru and I really enjoyed that when I told them." Fu said. "Although Hinata, when Naruto first came to me, he was just the cutest little thing." She quietly squealed before resuming. "He told me that I was causing some light hearted feelings in his gut because of my looks and personality, it was almost like a love confession! Of course, we were too young at the time to actually date and stuff, but I did offer that if he wanted to explore his feelings we could hang out with the slightest bits of romance. Hugging, kisses on the cheek or forehead, the such. Eventually, Gaara came to us if were romantically involved. When I told him no, he looked relieved even when he tried being all stoic. Because I also thought he was cute, just a little more than Naruto, I asked if he wanted to join us. He agreed on the condition if it was away from the rest from out family, but from then on, the three of us dabbled and experimented. And the rest is history. We became an official three way relationship after Naruto recovered from his fight with Sasuke and talked about inviting you with us. I'm so glad we did."

"That's... very interesting." The Hyuga girl marveled from the story.

"You know, this feels really significant." Naruto began speaking again. "I mean, Pervy Sage would say that love is the most important thing in someone's life, and there's flipping four of us. Each of us inspired the other to rise above where we previously were, and become stronger in not just power, but as people. We should do something about this. I mean, we're already on a date but we could-"

"Do a four-way fist bump?" Fu suggested, remembering from when they did that in Kumogakure.

"Yeah! Fist bump! This will officially be the moment of our relationship becoming all the better from here on out!" He cheered as he stuck his fist out. The other three connected and smiled, awaiting their future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Well, that's it. I was considering about adding in a part in which they take Hinata home and the jinchuriki go to theirs but I want to leave that up to you if I should add that. This definitely feels like a nice way to end a date related chapter. I loved writing this story and writing it for you. Thank you. Leave a review below and tell me what you thought the series as a whole was; both the original and this Shippuden story.


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